Aspects described herein relate to communicating with multiple cells based on two separate subscriptions stored at the UE in a dual subscription dual standby (DSDS) mode, switching to communicate with the multiple cells in a dual subscription dual active (DSDA) mode, transmitting, to at least one of the multiple cells and based on a number of component carriers allowed for a subscription being exceeded by switching to communicate in the DSDA mode, assistance information to indicate a threshold amount of component carriers for the UE, and transmitting, to at least one of the multiple cells and based on the number of component carriers allowed for the subscription being exceeded by switching to communicate in the DSDA mode, a channel quality indicator (CQI) value for one or more cells of the multiple cells to request deactivation of one or more component carriers with, or release of, the one or more cells.