Method and apparatus for implementing generic access network functionality in a wireless communication device

A method of supporting Generic Access Network (GAN) functionality in a wireless communication device, said method comprising:

• operating a privately routable, first IP stack in association with a GAN manager, wherein operating the first IP stack includes encrypting outgoing GAN traffic and decrypting incoming encrypted GAN traffic via IP security (IPsec) processing in the first IP stack;
• and
• operating a publicly routable, second IP stack as a router for the first IP stack, to route outgoing GAN traffic from the first IP stack to a public network interface and to route incoming GAN traffic from the public network interface to the first IP stack, said first and second IP stacks being bridged via a local IP link;
• wherein operating the second IP stack as a router for the first IP stack includes:
• performing Network Address Translation (NAT) routing of incoming encrypted GAN traffic received through the public network interface, for transfer to the first IP stack via the local IP link;
• and
• performing NAT routing of outgoing encrypted GAN traffic received from the first IP stack through the local IP link, for transfer to the external IP network via the public network interface.