Glossary
NEF (Network Exposure Function) in 3GPP: meaning and where it is specified
At a glance
- Term
- NEF
- Stands for
- Network Exposure Function
- Defined in
- 3GPP TS 23.501 V20.3.0, clause 6.2.5.0
- TR 21.905 also lists
- Network Element Function
- Used in
- TS 29.522, TS 29.591
In plain words
TS 29.591 says NEF "provides application or user related information" to NF service consumers. TS 29.522 ties NEF to stage 2 functional requirements implemented through the procedures in clause 4.4. TS 23.501 says it stores information as structured data in the UDR. It also handles masking sensitive network and user information to external AFs according to network policy.
Source: 3GPP TS 29.591 V20.1.0, clause 4.2.1.3.1. © 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC). Official text: https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/29_series/29.591/29591-k10.zip
Sources
- 3GPP TS 29.591 V20.1.0, clause 4.2.1.3.1. © 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC). Official text: https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/29_series/29.591/29591-k10.zip
- 3GPP TS 29.522 V20.1.0, clause 4.3.1. © 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC). Official text: https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/29_series/29.522/29522-k10.zip
- 3GPP TS 23.501 V20.3.0, clause 6.2.5.0. © 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC). Official text: https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/23_series/23.501/23501-k30.zip
How this page was made
The facts box comes straight from the 3GPP TDoc list and specification archive as indexed by 3GPP Scout. An AI model (GPT-6 Luna) wrote the paragraph and named the source of each sentence. Code checked every quote word for word against the stored source text and every number against the cited source. A second AI model from another company (Claude Opus 5.5) reviewed the paragraph against the same sources. The 3GPP documents themselves govern.