Mechanisms to update a serving BS with the CSG memberships of a MS are generally presented. In this regard, a base station is introduced including a wired backbone interface to communicate with a plurality of macro base stations and a plurality of femto base stations, and control logic, the control logic to identify one or more femto base station(s) that a mobile station is authorized to access, and the control logic to generate a request for the mobile station to scan for a specific femto base station which the mobile station is authorized to access. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.