Embodiments of an Evolved Node-B (eNB), radio access network (RAN) central unit (RCU) and methods for radio resource control (RRC) are generally described herein. A RAN distributed unit (RDU) at an eNB may communicate with an RCU of a cloud RAN to cooperatively perform RRC functionality for the eNB 104. The RDU 105 may receive a request for an RRC connection from a User Equipment (UE), and may request global load information from the RCU. The RDU may determine whether to establish the requested RRC connection based on the global load information when a response from the RCU is received before a predetermined time. The RDU may determine whether to establish the requested RRC connection based on local load information when the response from the RCU is not received before the predetermined time.