Generally speaking, pursuant to the various embodiments, pre-allocation of resources in a RAN of a communication system is performed. A system element having an application function determines, for a set of user equipment (UE), pre-allocation information used to select a set of cells in the RAN to which the set of UE will connect for exchanging data. The element sends a request to establish a bearer to an evolved packet core (EPC), wherein the request includes the pre-allocation information. The determining and sending actions are performed prior to one or more of the UE in the set of UE connecting to the set of cells. The EPC processes the request and returns a response to the system element, which identifies that a bearer for unicast and/or group communications has been established.