Methods and apparatus for facilitating concurrent Push-to-talk over
Cellular (PoC) group communication sessions for a mobile station (102)
are disclosed. A first PoC communication session (550) for a first user
group (504) is maintained while a second PoC communication session (552)
for a second user group (506) is concurrently maintained, where the
second user group (506) has at least one common member (516) with the
first user group (504). The second user group (506) may have at least one
member (518, 520) which is not included in the first user group (504).
Through a user interface, a PoC user may select between the first and the
second user groups (504 and 506) for communication or combine the
communications. In an alternative embodiment, all of the members (518,
520, 522) of a second user group (604) may be included in a first user
group (602). In a specific approach, encrypted data packets of a PoC
communication sub-session are communicated during a PoC communication
session. If a key for the encrypted data packets is known for the mobile
station (102), the encrypted data packets are decrypted to facilitate the
PoC communication sub-session involving the mobile station (102);
otherwise the encrypted data packets are discarded.