It is an object of the present invention to provide a mobile communication
system capable of shortening a delay time preceding the reception of a
multicast packet at a radio base station which has been reached by a
movement of a mobile terminal. The mobile communication system includes a
multicast router, a data layer link switch, a radio base station, and a
mobile terminal. In cases where the mobile terminal detects switching of
the radio base station but does not detect switching of the multicast
router, a path establishing request, a withdrawal request, and another
path establishing request are sequentially output. When the switching of
the radio base station and the switching of the multicast router is
detected, a path establishing request is transmitted to the new multicast
router, and a withdrawal request is transmitted to the previous multicast
router thereafter.