An apparatus and method for providing configuration information relating to an extension carrier within a wireless communications network is disclosed herein. In one embodiment, each enhanced node B (eNodeB) transmits the configuration information within the downlink subframes of at least one radio frame, wherein the configuration information is transmitted on the downlink shared channel (DL-SCH) included in the radio frame. In another embodiment, each eNodeB transmits the configuration information within a radio resource control (RRC) signaling included in at least one radio frame to select ones of the user equipments (UEs) in response to the system load relative to the select UE's request.