Methods and devices are provided to enable a cooperating group of user equipments (UEs) to access a second spectrum band as frame based equipment (FBE) for device-to-device (D2D) sidelink transmission within the group. In an embodiment, a UE operating as a cooperating UE (CUE) in a cooperating group of UEs receives a group-specific CPC message from the network over a first spectrum band, the group-specific CPC message comprising information related to channel access for transmission of traffic intended for a target UE (TUE). The UE receives traffic intended for the TUE from the network over the first spectrum band and accesses a second spectrum band as FBE in accordance with a set of channel access parameters corresponding to the traffic to relay the traffic to the TUE via D2D sidelink transmission over the second spectrum band.