a mobile ue initiates a full search of all supported frequencies upon detecting a change in the mobile country code transmitted by a plmn . the change in mcc indicates the user had crossed a political border , and the spectrum allocated for wireless communication may be different . in one embodiment , the mobile ue stores the current mcc . upon obtaining an updated mcc , it is compared to the stored mcc . if the updated mcc is different from the stored mcc , the full frequency search is initiated . to prevent excessive searching , with concomitant power consumption , while traveling near a border , the ue waits a predetermined duration after an mcc - initiated full scan before conducting a subsequent full scan , even if the mcc changes within that duration .