There is disclosed a method of operating a user equipment in a radio access network, the user equipment being configured for operation utilising carrier aggregation. The carrier aggregation includes a set of component carriers. The method includes operating utilising the carrier aggregation based on a component indication received in a control information message, the component indication indicating one of the component carriers of the carrier aggregation. If the indicated component carrier is in a deactivated state, operating utilising the carrier aggregation includes activating the indicated component carrier for communicating. Otherwise, if the indicated component carrier is an activated state, operating utilising the carrier aggregation includes communicating utilising the indicated component carrier based on scheduling information included in the control information message. The disclosure also pertains to related devices and methods.