The disclosed technology is generally directed towards communicating whether a small deployed (e.g., millimeter wave 5G) cell is capable of operating as a self-backhaul device and can thereby operate as a relay node for another network device's backhaul (e.g., integrated access and backhaul) traffic. Data communicated between network devices, such as an attribute in in the CellAccessRelatedInfo information element of the system information block (e.g., a SIB type 1) message, can be used to convey the self-backhaul capability information. The network device that is searching for a self-backhaul cell evaluates the self-backhaul data of another cell, along with other selection criteria, to determine if the other cell can serve as a backhaul link; if the criteria is met, that other cell is selected, otherwise another cell is searched for such a capability.