in today &# 39 ; s wireless networks , the identity , for example the calling name of a user requesting the set up of a call , is displayed at the called party only if the called party has a subscription with the network operator . in particular , the subscriber has to have a subscription to the calling name presentation cnap supplementary service . cnap is a service that is provided for in the wireless intelligent network win draft of the telecommunications industry association standards committee tr45 . 2 , as well as in is - 764 . fig2 shows a block diagram of a network where the proposed invention is implemented . network 100 includes a mobile communications system 101 . in addition , also shown is a public switched fixed line communications system 102 . the mobile communications system is a gsm or umts system . mobile communications system 101 , includes a mobile switching centre ( msc ) msc 1 and msc 2 , which have connections to visitor locations registers ( vlrs ) vlr 1 and vlr 2 , and with a home location register hlr . additionally , the system also includes base station systems ( bsss ) bss 1 and bss 2 . also shown are mobile terminals ms 1 and ms 2 . mobile terminals ms 1 and ms 2 may be , for example , a cellular phone . additionally , msc 1 is coupled to the public switched fixed line communications system 102 . also located in system 101 is a name database 200 . even though only two mobile switching centers , two visitor location registers , one home location register , two terminals etc , are illustrated in fig2 , it is understood by a person skilled in the art that a mobile communications system , such as the one illustrated , may include more of them . msc 1 performs switching of a call from the public switched fixed line communications system 102 and vice versa as well as switching a call to another mobile terminal . msc 1 and msc 2 also validate mobile terminals ms 1 and ms 2 to determine whether the user using those stations is a resident of the system or a roamer by using the visitor location registers vlr 1 and vlr 2 respectively and home locations register hlr . vlr 1 and vlr 2 are functional units that dynamically store user information , such as location area , when the user is located in the area covered by a particular vlr . when a roaming mobile terminal enters an area controlled by an msc , the msc informs the associated vlr about the mobile terminal and initiates a registration procedure for the mobile terminal . the hlr is a functional unit used for management of mobile users . user information such as vlr address , mobile station , subscriber number are stored within the hlr . the name database 200 is used by mscs to perform queries in order to associate an identity of a user to a calling number , whenever a procedure to establish a call is received at the mscs . when a user leaves the area controlled by a particular msc , the associated vlr will remove the user information of that particular user that has left the area . according to the invention , in order to reduce the set up time of a call , querying the name database is removed . an illustrative embodiment of the technique is shown in fig3 a , 3 b , and 3 c , wherein message flow diagram showing the different steps required are displayed . in fig3 a , a user ( calling party ) registers the identity , for example a calling name it wants communicated and displayed at a called party , when establishing a call . the mobile terminal ms 1 used by the user will communicate with its controlling msc 1 via a channel and indicate that it wishes to register an identity ( a ). this is done by transmitting a message ( m ) that includes the identity ( a ). the user has the ability to modify the identity ( a ) as many times as the user wants , and to effect these modifications at any point in time . there is no limit to the number of modifications allowed nor is there a specific time instance , for example when the user switches on the terminal and connects to the network provider , that a modification of the identity ( a ) is permitted . the msc 1 in turn transfers the identity ( a ) to the corresponding vlr 1 , which in turn will transfer the identity ( a ) to the hlr where it will be registered and stored in a database ( 25 ). in each step there is a return acknowledgement message transmitted to the emitting entity , in this case mobile terminal ms 1 . the final acknowledgement between the msc 1 and ms 1 indicates that the registration has been executed and that the channel is to be released . on the occasion that a user registers the identity ( a ), this is executed using an unstructured supplementary services data ( ussd ) string . alternatively , a user can use a subscriber identity module ( sim ) toolkit application ( sam ). the hlr has the ability to decode the ussd string and recognize that an identity ( a ) has been received for registration . the same applies when the sim toolkit application is used . additionally , the hlr performs an internal step of removing upon reception of an identity ( a ) in a message ( m ) to be registered , any previously registered identity ( a ). in this way , one identity ( a ) is registered at any one time , simplifying the management of associating identities , for example names with numbers , and the also reducing the size of the database . once the identity ( a ) has been registered , the hlr downloads the identity ( a ) to the vlr at which the mobile terminal is currently registered with . in the event that the mobile terminal is roaming and moves from one msc to another msc and therefore a location update is necessary , the hlr transfers the identity ( a ) to the new vlr upon reception of a location update message . the download of the identity ( a ) is done using an insert subscriber data message . once the mobile terminal has left the old msc , the user information stored at the old vlr which includes the identity ( a ) is removed . the above can be seen in fig3 b . fig3 c shows a message flow diagram depicting the steps performed in order to set up the call and provide the called party with the calling party &# 39 ; s identity ( a ). ms 1 communicates with msc 1 a request to initiate a call establishment with ms 2 . msc 1 then communicates with vlr 1 requesting information about the user ( ms 1 ) who is initiating the call . the vlr provides the required information which includes the identity of ms 1 . msc 1 then proceeds to communicate with msc 2 requesting the establishment of a call to ms 2 and provides ms 2 with the identity ( a ) and calling number of ms 1 . msc 2 , in turn , communicates with vlr 2 requesting information about the user ms 2 . upon reception of this information , msc 2 establishes the call to ms 2 and provides the identity ( a ) to ms 2 . advantageously , compared with the prior art technique , shown in fig1 , msc 2 does not have to perform any name database query regarding ms 1 . msc 1 has already provided this information . this information is retrieved from a smaller set of information stored on the vlr in a database ( 35 ) that the mobile terminal is currently located at , thus reducing the amount of time necessary to retrieve the information . all that msc 2 has to perform is the standard query to vlr 2 concerning ms 2 . during this query , msc 2 ascertains whether ms 2 , has the service allowing the display of identities enabled . if the query returns a positive answer then the identity ( a ) is displayed . if the answer is negative then only the calling number is displayed . a further advantage in the event of a negative answer is that msc 2 does not have to perform any further query as in the prior art . msc 2 concerns itself simply with the mobile station under its control . therefore , reducing the amount of time necessary for retrieving identity ( a ) information and thus , reducing the overall amount of time necessary for the establishment of the call . fig4 and 5 , show a block diagram of different entities that comprise the system and their interrelationship . ms 1 10 and ms 2 10 ′, both comprise an input device 11 , for example the keypad of a mobile phone or a camera , adapted to allow a subscriber to modify his identity ( a ), i . e . calling name or photograph , and are connected to a registering device 12 . the registering device 12 is adapted to communicate and transmit a message ( m ), including the identity ( a ) via a visitor location register 30 to a home location register 20 . the registering device is adapted to use an unstructured supplementary services data ( ussd ) string or a subscriber identity module ( sim ) toolkit application ( sam ) to transmit the identity . the visitor location register 30 has a communication device 31 adapted to forward the message ( m ) to the home location registry 40 . the hlr 20 has a receiving device 21 for receiving messages transmitted to the hlr 20 that are adapted to decode a ussd string or a sim toolkit application and recognize that an identity of a user has been received for registration . the receiving device 21 is also adapted to verify whether there exists a previously registered identity and if there is one such registered identity to remove it . hlr 20 , also comprises of a storage device 25 , such as a database or memory chip , adapted to store the registered identity . the hlr 20 further comprises a downloading device 24 that is adapted to download the stored identity to the vlr 30 . this is executed under the command of a central unit 23 , which is in control of the hlr 20 . the vlr 30 or any other vlr that is located within the network comprises of the aforementioned communication device 31 , as well as with a storage device 32 , such as a database or memory chip , adapted to store the identity downloaded from the hlr 20 . the communication device 31 is also adapted to receive and transmit messages to and from the vlr 30 . the vlr 30 also comprises a central unit 33 also connected to the storage device 32 , that are adapted to receive information requests from mscs regarding mobile terminals currently located with the mscs and providing , after retrieving the information from the storage device 32 the requested information . ms 1 10 and ms 2 10 ′ also have an initiating device 13 which is adapted to initiate the establishment of a call to a caller party via msc 1 50 and msc 2 50 , respectively . the mscs comprise of an establishing device 51 adapted to receive a message from the initiating device 13 , a retrieving device 52 adapted to communicate with the vlr 30 and request information about mobile terminals . they also comprise of transmit / receive device 53 adapted to receive and transmit any messages , such as those indicating a registration to the vlr 30 . although the invention has been described in terms of a preferred embodiment described herein , those skilled in the art will appreciate other embodiments and modifications which can be made without departing from the scope of the teachings of the invention . all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the claims appended hereto .