Improvements in and relating to managing delay in a multi-hop telecommunication network

A method of operating a multi-hop network (e.g. an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) network) comprising the steps of: receiving at a first node a Quality of Service (QoS) indicator (5QI) from a core network; calculating a QoS characteristic; receiving at the first node, assistance information from one or more second nodes; determining at the first node if a QoS profile which comprises the QoS characteristic can be guaranteed and if the result of determining is positive, the first node configures link-layer functions of the one or more second nodes and/or compiles routing tables; and if the result of determining is negative, the first node notifies the core network that the QoS profile cannot be guaranteed. The QoS characteristic may be packet delay budget (PDB), packet error rate (PER), guaranteed bit-rate (GBR). The step of determining may comprise one or more of: estimated processing time at each node; a switching delay between Rx and Tx functions of a node; and the UL/DL frame switching delay. The first node may set scheduling priority weights and HARQ target operating points to be used by the one or more second nodes, based on QoS estimates for multi-hop operation.