diff --git a/openbsc/src/libcommon-cs/common_cs_vty.c b/openbsc/src/libcommon-cs/common_cs_vty.c
index 99aa0cf..11ed50f 100644
--- a/openbsc/src/libcommon-cs/common_cs_vty.c
+++ b/openbsc/src/libcommon-cs/common_cs_vty.c
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 /* Code used by both libbsc and libmsc (common_cs means "BSC or MSC").
  *
  * (C) 2016 by sysmocom s.m.f.c. <info@sysmocom.de>
+ * (C) 2008-2010 by Harald Welte <laforge@gnumonks.org>
  * All Rights Reserved
  *
  * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
@@ -17,3 +18,26 @@
  * along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
  *
  */
+
+#include <openbsc/gsm_data.h>
+
+static struct gsm_network *vty_global_gsm_network = NULL;
+
+/* initialize VTY elements used in both BSC and MSC */
+int common_cs_vty_init(struct gsm_network *network)
+{
+	OSMO_ASSERT(vty_global_gsm_network == NULL);
+	vty_global_gsm_network = network;
+}
+
+struct gsm_network *gsmnet_from_vty(struct vty *v)
+{
+	/* It can't hurt to force callers to continue to pass the vty instance
+	 * to this function, in case we'd like to retrieve the global
+	 * gsm_network instance from the vty at some point in the future. But
+	 * until then, just return the global pointer, which should have been
+	 * initialized by common_cs_vty_init().
+	 */
+	OSMO_ASSERT(vty_global_gsm_network);
+	return vty_global_gsm_network;
+}