3. MGCP Role in Telecommunication Products

MGCP plays a crucial role in bridging circuit-switched telephony with packet-switched voice networks. It is typically used in carrier and enterprise VoIP systems where a central softswitch or Call Agent controls distributed gateways. Examples of telecommunication products and network elements that often employ MGCP include [RFC 3435]:

Trunking Gateways: These gateways interface between the PSTN (telephony switch circuits) and a VoIP network, handling a large number of digital voice circuits. For instance, a trunk gateway might terminate dozens of T1/E1 lines and packetize the voice channels into RTP streams under the instruction of a Call Agent.