There is disclosed a handoff control method for registering a CDMA mobile station in such a way that battery power wastage is prevented if successive attempts to register the station fail. If it is judged that registration fails (step S106), idle handoff is inhibited (step S107). The mobile station shifts to a registration-waiting sleep mode (step S108 and state ST10) in which the sending and receiving operation of the mobile station is paused for a given time. When a sleep timer that is set in the step S108 times out, registration is resumed under certain conditions. On resumption, a new pilot signal is acquired.