a method of brokering a network resource 10 includes providing a service broker processor 12 and a service broker registry 13 . on receiving a request at the service broker processor to register a network resource to provide a network service , the service broker processor authenticates the request and authorises registration in the service broker registry . a network client 14 is updated with the availability of the registered network resource so that on receiving a third party request for the network service , the network client requests allocation of the registered network resource . a bearer path 54 is set up between the third party 21 and the network resource 10 to provide the requested network service .