The present document describes the use cases and potential requirements for an optional capability allowing an operator to provide access to restricted local operator services. Based on operator policy, access to these restricted local operator services is allowed for unauthenticated UEs. In such cases, the unauthenticated UE is restricted to only accessing a restricted local operator service. Any other access attempts by the UE are subject to normal 3GPP processing, including authentication.

The following documents contain provisions which, through reference in this text, constitute provisions of the present document.

• References are either specific (identified by date of publication, edition number, version number, etc.) or non specific.
• For a specific reference, subsequent revisions do not apply.
• For a non-specific reference, the latest version applies. In the case of a reference to a 3GPP document (including a GSM document), a non-specific reference implicitly refers to the latest version of that document in the same Release as the present document.

Provision of restricted local operator services enables UEs to access operator provided restricted local operator services without being authenticated. This need is based on FCC regulations in the U.S. related to manual roaming as noted in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Title 47 Chapter 1 Subchapter B Part 20 Section 20.3 and the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Title 47 Chapter 1 Subchapter B Part 20 Section 20.12 (Resale and Roaming) Subparagraph c [2]. The capability to access restricted local operator services, as mandated by the FCC, can also be used to provide access to other operator specific restricted local operator services. The services themselves are out of scope of 3GPP. Access to any local services is completely under the operator's control; the set of local services can be specified by the operator such that no other service is allowed for these UEs. Three examples of restricted local operator services are provided below. Restricted local operator services can support a number of use cases. The first example is the temporary manual roaming use case. An end user travels to a region where their home operator does not have a roaming agreement with the local service provider. The end user is able to contact the local service provider's roaming care service and arrange for service in the region on a temporary basis. The end user cannot access any other service until this arrangement is established. Another example of a restricted local operator service is customer care for subscribers who have questions about their subscription. In this case, an end user can access the operator's customer care center. The customer care center service is able to answer questions for the end user. A third example of a restricted local operator service is access to a local service by an unlocked UE that contacts a customer subscription center in order to initiate a subscription with the network operator. In this case, the UE is not able to be authenticated in any network until the subscription has been established with the local service provider. An operator can choose to offer access to a specific set of restricted local operator services. The operator can choose to allow unauthenticated UEs to have access to these restricted local operator services. The ability to provide access to such restricted local operator services has been available to U.S. operators on a proprietary basis. However, the wide deployment of LTE and corresponding introduction of VoLTE creates demand for a standardized mechanism to allow a UE to access these restricted local operator services (e.g., dialing a particular digit string, accessing a captive portal) without being successfully authenticated for access. The leading provider of these services today processes over 23 million such local service attempts each month, indicating the widespread use of the capability. Note: In the use cases addressed below, local services are not specific to the access mechanism described. Different access mechanisms can be applied to the local service.

Based on operator policy and regional regulations, the 3GPP system shall support a mechanism to indicate to UEs that restricted local operator services are available. Based on operator policy and regional regulations, the 3GPP system shall support a mechanism to configure a set of addresses (e.g., phone number, secure portal) for access to restricted local operator services. Based on operator policy and regional regulations, the 3GPP system shall support mechanisms to allow access to restricted local operator services by unauthenticated UEs. Based on operator policy and regional regulations, the 3GPP system shall support a mechanism to indicate a restricted local operator service origination attempt.

The Feasibility Study on Provision of Access to Restricted Local Operator Services by Unauthenticated UEs Technical Report analyses a number of use cases for providing access to restricted local operator services to unauthenticated UEs. The use cases address various ways to access the local services, including dialled digits, secure portals, and captive portals. The potential impact to the network and UEs is also covered in the use cases. Taking into consideration the use cases in clause 5, the considerations in clause 6 and the potential requirements in clause 7, it is recommended to proceed with normative work. The text of the present document will not be updated to align with normative specifications.