The D2D authorisation module 69 is operable to authorise and, if necessary, reconfigure D2D communications by the mobile telephones 3 associated with this base station 5. The D2D authorisation module 69 evaluates the D2D state indications received from the mobile telephones 3 and interfaces with the interference handling module 67 to determine the effect of the indicated D2D state on the interference levels within the cell(s) of the base station 5.

In the above description, the mobile telephone 3 and the base station 5 are described for ease of understanding as having a number of discrete modules (such as the communications control modules and the D2D control modules). Whilst these modules may be provided in this way for certain applications, for example where an existing system has been modified to implement the invention, in other applications, for example in systems designed with the inventive features in mind from the outset, these modules may be built into the overall operating system or code and so these modules may not be discernible as discrete entities. These modules may also be implemented in software, hardware, firmware or a mix of these.

Operation—D2D Communication Continues

A more detailed description will now be given (with reference to FIG. 4) of the scenario discussed above where a D2D communications link is established between two mobile telephones 3-1 and 3-2 which is subsequently authorised by the cellular network.