Name in the cause table
Network failure
Source: 3GPP TS 24.501 V20.1.0, clause 9.11.4.2, table 9.11.4.2.1. © 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC). Official text: 24501-k10.zip in the 3GPP archive.
3GPP Scout / Reference / 5GSM causes / 5GSM cause #38
TS 24.5015GSM cause
5GSM cause #38: Network failure
In plain words
The network sends this cause when an error situation in the network causes the requested service to be rejected.
Our summary of the spec text quoted below.
What the spec says
When it is used
This 5GSM cause is used by the network to indicate that the requested service was rejected due to an error situation in the network.
Source: 3GPP TS 24.501 V20.1.0, clause B.1. © 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC). Official text: 24501-k10.zip in the 3GPP archive.
Same cause in EPS (TS 24.301)
TS 24.301 defines the corresponding cause for EPS. Its page quotes the EPS wording.
- ESM cause #38 (TS 24.301)
How this page was made
3GPP Scout built this page from TS 24.501 V20.1.0 as indexed on 2026-10-15. The quotes are copied from the spec, and code checks each one against the stored text and the 3GPP archive file before publishing. The plain-words line was written by an AI model (GPT-6 Sol) and checked against the quotes by a second AI model from another company (Claude Opus 5.5). The official 3GPP text governs.