diff --git a/tests/gsm0408/gsm0408_test.c b/tests/gsm0408/gsm0408_test.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8705741
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/gsm0408/gsm0408_test.c
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+/* simple test for the gsm0408 formatting functions */
+/*
+ * (C) 2008 by Holger Hans Peter Freyther <zecke@selfish.org>
+ * All Rights Reserved
+ *
+ * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
+ * with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+ * 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
+ *
+ */
+
+#include <assert.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+
+#include <openbsc/gsm_04_08.h>
+
+#define COMPARE(result, op, value) \
+    if (!((result) op (value))) {\
+	fprintf(stderr, "Compare failed. Was %x should be %x in %s:%d\n",result, value, __FILE__, __LINE__); \
+	exit(-1); \
+    }
+	
+
+/*
+ * Test Location Area Identifier formatting. Table 10.5.3 of 04.08
+ */
+static void test_location_area_identifier(void)
+{
+    struct gsm48_loc_area_id lai48;
+
+    printf("Testing test location area identifier\n");
+
+    /*
+     * Test the default/test setup. Coming from
+     * bsc_hack.c dumps
+     */
+    gsm0408_generate_lai(&lai48, 1, 1, 1);
+    COMPARE(lai48.digits[0], ==, 0x00);
+    COMPARE(lai48.digits[1], ==, 0xF1);
+    COMPARE(lai48.digits[2], ==, 0x10);
+    COMPARE(lai48.lac, ==, htons(0x0001));
+
+    gsm0408_generate_lai(&lai48, 602, 1, 15);
+    COMPARE(lai48.digits[0], ==, 0x06);
+    COMPARE(lai48.digits[1], ==, 0xF2);
+    COMPARE(lai48.digits[2], ==, 0x10);
+    COMPARE(lai48.lac, ==, htons(0x000f));
+}
+
+int main(int argc, char** argv)
+{
+    test_location_area_identifier();
+}
+
+
+
+/*
+ * Stubs to compile and link
+ */
+void rsl_data_request(void) {}
+void gsm0411_rcv_sms(void) {}
+void schedule_timer(void) {}
+void subscr_get_by_tmsi(void) {}
+void subscr_update(void) {}
+void db_subscriber_assoc_imei(void) {}
+void db_subscriber_alloc_tmsi(void) {}
+void db_create_subscriber(void) {}
+void rsl_chan_release(void) {}
+void msgb_alloc(void) {}