6.10 Network capability exposure

22.2613GPPRelease 18Service requirements for the 5G systemTS

6.10.1 Description

3GPP SEES and (e)FMSS features allow the operator to expose network capabilities e.g. QoS policy to third-party ISPs/ICPs. With the advent of 5G, new network capabilities need to be exposed to the third-party (e.g. to allow the third-party to customize a dedicated physical or virtual network or a dedicated network slice for diverse use cases; to allow the third-party to manage a trusted third-party application in a Service Hosting Environment to improve user experience, and efficiently utilize backhaul and application resources).

6.10.2 Requirements

The following set of requirements complement the requirements listed in 3GPP TS 22.101 [6], clause 29.

Based on operator policy, a 5G network shall provide suitable APIs to allow a trusted third-party to create, modify, and delete network slices used for the third-party.

Based on operator policy, the 5G network shall provide suitable APIs to allow a trusted third-party to monitor the network slice used for the third-party.

Based on operator policy, the 5G network shall provide suitable APIs to allow a trusted third-party to define and update the set of services and capabilities supported in a network slice used for the third-party.

Based on operator policy, the 5G network shall provide suitable APIs to allow a trusted third-party to configure the information which associates a UE to a network slice used for the third-party.

Based on operator policy, the 5G network shall provide suitable APIs to allow a trusted third-party to configure the information which associates a service to a network slice used for the third-party.

Based on operator policy, the 5G network shall provide suitable APIs to allow a trusted third-party to assign a UE to a network slice used for the third-party, to move a UE from one network slice used for the third-party to another network slice used for the third-party, and to remove a UE from a network slice used for the third-party based on subscription, UE capabilities, and services provided by the network slice.

The 3GPP network shall be able to provide suitable and secure means to enable an authorized third-party to provide the 3GPP network via encrypted connection with the expected communication behaviour of UE(s).

NOTE 1: The expected communication behaviour is, for instance, the application servers a UE is allowed to communicate with, the time a UE is allowed to communicate, or the allowed geographic area of a UE.

The 3GPP network shall be able to provide suitable and secure means to enable an authorized third-party to provide via encrypted connection the 3GPP network with the actions expected from the 3GPP network when detecting behaviour that falls outside the expected communication behaviour.

NOTE 2: Such actions can be, for instance, to terminate the UE’s communication, to block the transferred data between the UE and the not allowed application.

The 5G network shall be able to provide secure means for providing communication scheduling information (i.e. the time period the UE(s) will use a communication service) to an NPN via encrypted connection. This communication scheduling information is used by the 5G network to perform network energy saving and network resource optimization.

The 5G network shall provide a mechanism to expose broadcasting capabilities to trusted third-party broadcasters’ management systems.

Based on operator policy, a 5G network shall provide suitable APIs to allow a trusted third-party to manage this trusted third-party owned application(s) in the operator’s Service Hosting Environment.

Based on operator policy, the 5G network shall provide suitable APIs to allow a third-party to monitor this trusted third-party owned application(s) in the operator’s Service Hosting Environment.

Based on operator policy, the 5G network shall provide suitable APIs to allow a trusted third-party to scale a network slice used for the third-party, i.e. to adapt its capacity.

Based on operator policy, a 5G network shall provide suitable APIs to allow one type of traffic (from trusted third-party owned applications in the operator’s Service Hosting Environment) to/from a UE to be offloaded to a Service Hosting Environment close to the UE’s location.

Based on operator policy, the 5G network shall provide suitable APIs to allow a trusted third-party application to request appropriate QoE from the network.

Based on operator policy, the 5G network shall expose a suitable API to an authorized third-party to provide the information regarding the availability status of a geographic location that is associated with that third-party.

Based on operator policy, the 5G network shall expose a suitable API to allow an authorized third-party to monitor the resource utilisation of the network service (radio access point and the transport network (front, backhaul)) that are associated with the third-party.

Based on operator policy, the 5G network shall expose a suitable API to allow an authorized third-party to define and reconfigure the properties of the communication services offered to the third-party.

The 5G system shall support the means for disengagement (tear down) of communication services by an authorized third-party.

Based on operator policy, the 5G network shall expose a suitable API to provide the security logging information of UEs, for example, the active 3GPP security mechanisms (e.g. data privacy, authentication, integrity protection) to an authorized third-party.

Based on operator policy, the 5G system shall provide suitable means to allow a trusted and authorized third-party to consult security related logging information for the network slices dedicated to that third-party.

Based on operator policy, the 5G network shall be able to acknowledge within 100 ms a communication service request from an authorized third-party via a suitable API.

The 5G network shall provide suitable APIs to allow a trusted third-party to monitor the status (e.g. locations, lifecycle, registration status) of its own UEs.

NOTE 3: The number of UEs could be in the range from single digit to tens of thousands.

The 5G network shall provide suitable APIs to allow a trusted third-party to get the network status information of a private slice dedicated for the third-party, e.g. the network communication status between the slice and a specific UE.

The 5G system shall support APIs to allow the non-public network to be managed by the MNO’s Operations System.

The 5G system shall provide suitable APIs to allow third-party infrastructure (i.e. physical/virtual network entities at RAN/core level) to be used in a private slice.

A 5G system shall provide suitable APIs to enable a third-party to manage its own non-public network and its private slice(s) in the PLMN in a combined manner.

The 5G system shall support suitable APIs to allow an MNO to offer automatic configuration services (for instance, interference management) to non-public networks deployed by third parties and connected to the MNO’s Operations System through standardized interfaces.

The 5G system shall be able to:

– provide a third-party with secure access to APIs (e.g. triggered by an application that is visible to the 5G system), by authenticating and authorizing both the third-party and the UE using the third-party’s service.

– provide a UE with secure access to APIs (e.g. triggered by an application that is not visible to the 5G system), by authenticating and authorizing the UE.

– allow the UE to provide/revoke consent for information (e.g., location, presence) to be shared with the third-party.

– preserve the confidentiality of the UE’s external identity (e.g. MSISDN) against the third-party.

– provide a third-party with information to identify networks and APIs on those networks.

Based on operator policy, the 5G system shall provide means by which an MNO informs a third party of changes in UE subscription information. The 5G system shall also provide a means for an authorised third party to request this information at any time from the MNO.

NOTE 4: Examples of UE subscription information include IP address, 5G LAN-VN membership, and configuration parameters for data network access.

NOTE 5: These changes can have strong impacts in the stability of the third-party service.

The 5G system shall provide a means by which an MNO can inform authorised 3rd parties of changes in the

– RAT type that is serving a UE;

– cell ID;

– RAN quality of signal information;

– assigned frequency band.

This information listed above shall be provided with a suitable frequency via OAM and/or 5G core network.

NOTE 6: The information aids the third party user to take proactive actions so that it can achieve high service availability in delivery of its services.