A method for performing discontinuous transmission in an asynchronous transfer mode is described, wherein a downlink transmission of an ATM cell is performed each time a predetermined number of signal frames indicating a speechless period has been supplied, and wherein an uplink transmission of an ATM cell is only performed when a signal frame indicating a useful information has been supplied. In the downlink transmission, an idle frame can be generated at the receiving end, when no ATM cell is received. In the uplink transmission, a signal frame indicating a useless information can be generated, when no ATM cell is received. Thereby, only those signal frames required at the receiving end are transmitted. Moreover, known transmission functions and elements of a synchronous transmission system can be used at the respective ends of transmission.