5.30.2.10.1 General

Onboarding of UEs for SNPNs allows the UE to access an Onboarding Network (ONN) for the purpose of provisioning the UE with SNPN credentials for primary authentication and other information to enable access to a desired SNPN, i.e. (re-)select and (re-)register with SNPN.

To provision SNPN credentials in a UE that is configured with Default UE credentials (see clause 5.30.2.10.2.4), the UE selects an SNPN as ONN and establishes a secure connection with that SNPN referred to as Onboarding SNPN (ON-SNPN), see more details in clause 5.30.2.10.2.

NOTE: If the UE is already provisioned with a set of SNPN credentials or credentials owned by a Credentials Holder and needs to be provisioned with an additional set of SNPN credentials, the UE can access an SNPN using the network selection in SNPN access mode as described in clause 5.30.2.4, normal registration (i.e. not registration for onboarding) and normal PDU Session (i.e. not a restricted PDU Session used for onboarding) and then leverage the SNPN's User Plane connection to get access to a PVS. The PVS address can be provided in the same way as when the Onboarding Network is a PLMN.

To provision SNPN credentials in a UE that is equipped with a USIM configured with PLMN credentials, the UE selects a PLMN as ONN and establishes a secure connection with that PLMN, see more details in clause 5.30.2.10.3.

After the secure connection is established, the UE is provisioned with SNPN credentials and possibly other data to enable discovery, (re-)selection and (re-)registration for a desired SNPN, see more details in clause 5.30.2.10.4.

ON-SNPN and SO-SNPN can be roles taken by either an SNPN or different SNPNs. It is possible for the same network to be in both roles with respect to a specific UE.