Multicast idle mode behavior and paging

A method for wireless communications at a first network node, comprising:

• receiving a request to establish a multicast session for a user equipment (UE) via a base station wirelessly communicating with the UE, the request identifying a multicast service session comprising at least one multicast quality of service flow;
• identifying that the multicast service session lacks a tunnel from a second network node to the base station to transport multicast packets of the multicast service session from a content provider to the UE via the tunnel;
• and
• establishing the tunnel between the second network node and the base station in response to the received request from the UE.

An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

• a processor,
• memory coupled with the processor;
• and
• instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
• transmit a request to establish a multicast session, the request identifying a multicast service session comprising at least one multicast quality of service flow;
• receive, from a base station wirelessly communicating with the apparatus, an indication of communication resources for the apparatus to receive multicast packets of the multicast service session from a content provider via a tunnel between a first network node and the base station, the tunnel established for the multicast service session in response to the transmitted request from the apparatus based at least in part on identifying that the multicast service session lacks an existing tunnel between the first network node and the base station;
• identify a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle for the multicast service session;
• and
• receive the multicast packets from the base station according to the indicated communication resources and the identified DRX cycle.

An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

• a processor,
• memory coupled with the processor;
• and
• instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
• receive a request to establish a multicast session for a user equipment (UE) via a base station wirelessly communicating with the UE, the request identifying a multicast service session comprising at least one multicast quality of service flow;
• identify that the multicast service session lacks a tunnel from a second apparatus to the base station to transport multicast packets of the multicast service session from a content provider to the UE via the tunnel;
• and
• establish the tunnel between the second apparatus and the base station in response to the received request from the UE.