A telecommunication system comprises a computational component operating in a first licensing mode. The system includes a license manager 113 that identifies the occurrence of a predetermined licensing event and a mode setting agent 124 that notifies a user of the predetermined licensing event and determines whether or not the user acknowledges receipt of the notice within a selected time period. When the user fails to acknowledge receipt of the notice within the selected time period, the mode setting agent causes the computational component to operate in a second licensing mode, and, when the user acknowledges receipt of the notice within the selected time period, causes the computational component to operate in a third licensing mode. The first, second, and third licensing modes provide for a first, second, and third sets of operations, respectively. Each of the first and third sets of operations differ from the second set of operations.