A telecommunications system and method is disclosed for using H.248 Media Gateways within Access Networks of third-generation mobile systems. Each H.248 Access Network Media Gateway is capable of serving one or more radio servers of an Access Network, and one or more network servers of the Core Network. In addition, pools of devices (e.g., transcoders) can be shared between the radio servers and network servers. Furthermore, the Media Gateways within the Access Network can provide H.248 Virtual Gateways capable of serving the radio servers within two or more Access Networks and the network servers within the Core Network.