the invention relates to methods for transmission of signalling data in cellular telecommunication networks . according to the invention , multiple radio bearers can be allocated for transferring signalling traffic , but all higher layer signalling is in any case taken through the rrc protocol . in the inventive method , mm and higher layer messages are sent using rrc direct transfer messages , but a separate rlc entity is set up for rrc direct transfer messages . in various embodiments of the invention , separate radio bearers can be set up for individual cn domains and / or upper layer protocols and / or for a group of rrc messages .