A telecommunications network, and particularly a mobility management entity (MME) (26) of the telecommunications network, performs negotiation of use of header compression over at least a portion of a backhaul link extending between a base station node (28) and a serving gateway (SGW) (24). In some embodiments the backhaul link comprises a radio link. In certain bearer encapsulation embodiments having radio-interface borne backhaul links a General Packet Radio service Tunneling Protocol (GTP) tunnel traverses between the serving gateway node and a relay base station node. In such bearer encapsulation embodiments the method further comprises handling signaling between the serving gateway node and the relay base station node for negotiating the use of the header compression inside the General Packet Radio service Tunneling Protocol (GTP) tunnel. In certain proxy embodiments having radio-interface borne backhaul links the backhaul link comprises a first tunnel extending between the serving gateway node and a donor base station node and a further (e.g., second) tunnel extending between the donor base station node and the relay base station node. In such example proxy embodiments the method further comprises handling signaling between the relay base station node and the donor base station node for negotiating the use of the header compression inside the second tunnel, and (optionally) handling signaling between the donor base station node and the serving gateway node for negotiating the use of the header compression inside the first tunnel.