There is provided a method of determining latency in a remote network element of a telecommunications network. In one embodiment, the method comprises receiving a message at a network element, the message comprising a time stamp of the time at which it was sent from a source network element. On receiving the message, the network element obtains another time stamp, and so may determine the time for the message to be sent between the network elements. In further embodiments, a source network element may gain an implicit indication of the workload of the remote network element by sending a first message to the remote network element and determining a length of time before the remote network element sends a second message back to the source network element.