A method of managing processing resources in a mobile radio system, in which a first entity manages radio resources and corresponding processing resources, the latter being provided in a second entity separate from the first entity. The second entity signals to the first entity its global processing capacity, or capacity credit, and the consumption law, or quantity of the global processing capacity, or cost, for different spreading factor values. The first entity updates the capacity credit on the basis of the consumption law. In the case of multicode transmission using N spreading codes, the updating is effected on the basis of the cost for at least one of the N spreading codes.