The present invention relates to communications methods, apparatus and systems for providing media micro-services in a scalable and efficient manner. In an exemplary method embodiment, a packet plane control service entity performs the following operations: (i) receives a request from a Signaling-Session Border Controller to implement one or more micro-services on a media packet stream, the request including information about the media packet stream including stream identification information; generates instructions for one or more entities under the control of the packet plane control service entity to implement the requested one or more micro-services on the media packet stream; and communicates the generated instructions to the one or more entities under the control of the packet plane control service entity for implementation on the media packet stream.