Method and apparatus for providing communication link monito ring

A method and apparatus are provided to facilitate the selection of a monitoring device for a communication link in device-to-device communications, such as non-cellular communications or cellular communications in a licensed exempt band, such as Industrial, Scientific or Medical (ISM) or Television White Space (TVWS). A method and apparatus determine the reception resources available for use by a first telecommunications device (14), and a second telecommunications device (16). The method and apparatus then select either the first telecommunications device (14) or the second telecommunications device (16) as a monitoring device to monitor the direct (peer-to-peer) communications link. The method and apparatus may also change the monitoring device to the other telecommunications device (14 or16) based upon a change in the balance of reception resources of the first telecommunications device (14) or the second telecommunications device (16). The devices may be in a cluster network and the monitoring changes may occur after a failure notification or resignation of a cluster head (see fig 8).