a method of initiating handover in a cellular radio system with cdma access technology . a mobile station is present in a serving cell and handover should be made from a serving cell to a target cell . before the handover is made the signal quality from the target cell is estimated . the mobile measures the signal quality , preferably ec / io of the pilot tone , from the serving cell . an rnc node calculates the estimated signal quality as a function of the measured signal quality , a load dependent quantity at the serving and target cells and decides to initiate the handover when the estimated signal quality at the target cell is better than a predefined minimum value or is better than the measured signal quality . as load dependent quantity the total output transmission powers p s and p t may used .