The present invention relates to a method for operating a terminal device (106) of a wireless communication system (100). The terminal device (106) is connected to a base station (101) of the wireless communication system (100). According to the method, an intermediate node functionality is provided at the terminal device (106). The intermediate node functionality is configured to forward communication data received from the base station (101) to a further terminal device (107) and to forward communication data received from the further terminal device (107) to the base station (101). Upon receiving a permission from the base station (101) to activate the intermediate node functionality, the terminal device (106) activates the intermediate node functionality.