3GPP Scout / Reference / ESM causes / ESM cause #65

TS 24.301ESM cause

ESM cause #65: Maximum number of EPS bearers reached

TS 24.301 V20.1.0Clause 9.9.4.4Value 65 (bits 0100 0001)Checked 2026-10-15

In plain words

The network uses this cause to indicate that the UE's requested procedure was rejected because the maximum number of simultaneously active EPS bearer contexts for the UE was reached.

Our summary of the spec text quoted below.

What the spec says

Name in the cause table

Maximum number of EPS bearers reached

Source: 3GPP TS 24.301 V20.1.0, clause 9.9.4.4, table 9.9.4.4.1. © 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC). Official text: 24301-k10.zip in the 3GPP archive.

When it is used

This ESM cause is used by the network to indicate that the procedure requested by the UE was rejected as the network has reached the maximum number of simultaneously active EPS bearer contexts for the UE.

Source: 3GPP TS 24.301 V20.1.0, clause B.1. © 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC). Official text: 24301-k10.zip in the 3GPP archive.

How this page was made

3GPP Scout built this page from TS 24.301 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.