Methods of operating a base station in a radio access network (RAN) may be provided. In particular, a message may be communicated (e.g., transmitted or received) between the base station and another node of the radio access network, and the message may include a Coordinated Multipoint (CoMP) hypothesis field, a benefit metric field, and a cell identification field. Communicating may include transmitting the message to the other node of the radio access network, or communicating may include receiving the message from the other node of the radio access network.