Flexible NB-IoT multi-carrier operation across radio frequency bands

A method for improving NarrowB and Internet of Things (NB-IoT) radio network utilization, comprising:

• establishing a connection procedure between a base station (eNodeB), and a user equipment (UE), the UE trying to connect to a first radio frequency band, wherein the eNodeB sends a SystemInformationBlockType5-NB message comprising other radio frequency bands of interest that are supported by the eNodeB, to the UE, and the UE sends a RRCConnectionRequest message comprising information about signal conditions of cells that have been found on the other radio frequency bands at the UE provided by measurement results obtained in idle mode, back to the eNodeB, and the eNodeB configures the UE with an additional NB-IoT carrier using a RRCConnectionSetup message, so that multi-carrier operations are performable across the other radio frequency bands, that are supported by the eNodeB;
• wherein a radio link monitoring procedure is established within an additional signaling exchanged by the UE and the eNodeB, and the UE informs the eNodeB about a radio link failure on a non-anchor carrier by using a newly defined MAC control element together with a C-RNTI MAC CE in message 3 and the eNodeB reconfigures the UE and releases the non-anchor carrier or redirects the UE to another radio frequency band.