Lte-level security for neutral host lte

A device, comprising:

• a processing circuit of an online sign up (OSU) component of a service provider (SP) network, the processing circuit configured to
• authenticate a user equipment (UE) to the OSU component using an UE certificate obtained from the UE, wherein a private key corresponding to the UE certificate is available only in secure processing during authentication;
• and
• forward the UE certificate from the OSU component to an authentication component of the SP network for subsequent authentication based on the UE certificate.

A method operational in a service provider (SP) network connected to a wireless communication network, comprising:

• authenticating a user equipment (UE) to an online sign up (OSU) component of the SP network using a preconfigured user equipment (UE) certificate, wherein a private key corresponding to the UE certificate is available only in secure processing during authentication;
• facilitating, using the OSU component, the provisioning of a SP-issued certificate to the UE, wherein the private key corresponding to the SP-issued certificate is available only in secure processing within the UE;
• and
• forwarding, using the OSU component, the SP-issued certificate to an authentication component of the SP network for subsequent authentication of the UE based on the SP-issued certificate.

A device, comprising:

• a processing circuit of a user equipment (UE) for use with a wireless communication network, the processing circuit configured to
• authenticate the UE to an online sign up (OSU) component of a service provider (SP) network using a preconfigured certificate, wherein a private key corresponding to the preconfigured certificate is available only in secure processing during authentication;
• authenticate the UE to an authentication component of the SP network to obtain a key;
• and
• secure communications between the UE and the SP network based on the key.