A relay node receives from user equipments UE CQI reports which give a CQI value per radio band resource RBR, from which are aggregated across the RBRs and/or aggregated per UE across that UE's RBR values. The relay node reports an indication of the average to its controlling access node (eNodeB), either explicitly or implicitly (e.g., a gain applied to the CQI of the downlink between the relay and access nodes). The relay node also checks the UEs' buffer status (actual or predicted) and reports either periodically or based on an underflow/overflow occurrence. For periodic reports, each UE buffer experiencing the overrun/underrun is reported.