Glossary
UE (User Equipment) in 3GPP: meaning and where it is specified
At a glance
- Term
- UE
- Stands for
- User Equipment
- Defined in
- 3GPP TR 21.905 V19.2.0, clause 4
- Used in
- TS 23.002, TS 23.101, TS 32.251
In plain words
3GPP TR 21.905 lists UE as User Equipment, while TS 23.101, TS 23.002, and TS 32.251 use the term. "For the purpose of 3GPP specifications the interface between the UE and the network is the radio interface.". This describes the radio interface linking the UE and network in 3GPP specifications.
Source: 3GPP TS 23.101 V18.0.0, clause 5.2. © 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC). Official text: https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/23_series/23.101/23101-i00.zip
Sources
- 3GPP TR 21.905 V19.2.0, clause 4. © 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC). Official text: https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/21_series/21.905/21905-j20.zip
- 3GPP TS 23.101 V18.0.0, clause 5.2. © 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC). Official text: https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/23_series/23.101/23101-i00.zip
- 3GPP TS 23.002 V19.0.0, clause 4.4. © 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC). Official text: https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/23_series/23.002/23002-j00.zip
- 3GPP TS 32.251 V17.0.0, clause 3.1. © 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC). Official text: https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/32_series/32.251/32251-h00.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.