diff --git a/openbsc/src/gprs/gprs_sgsn.c b/openbsc/src/gprs/gprs_sgsn.c
index 727524e..5d9af78 100644
--- a/openbsc/src/gprs/gprs_sgsn.c
+++ b/openbsc/src/gprs/gprs_sgsn.c
@@ -611,7 +611,7 @@
 uint32_t sgsn_alloc_ptmsi(void)
 {
 	struct sgsn_mm_ctx *mm;
-	uint32_t ptmsi;
+	uint32_t ptmsi = 0xdeadbeef;
 	int max_retries = 100;
 
 restart: