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QCI

QCI stands for QoS Class Identifier. This is a special indentifier defining the quality of packet communication provided by LTE. The range of the class is from 1 to 9.  Each of this class is defined as in the following table (TS 23.203).

(3GPP -23.203 Table 6.1.7: Standardized QCI characteristics : Release 8)

Note : GBR stands for Guaranteed Bit Rate

From Rel 12, 4 additional QCIs(65,66,69,70) are defined mainly for Public Safety Group Communication as shown below.

(3GPP -23.203 Table 6.1.7: Standardized QCI characteristics : Release 12)

The specific QCI value is allocated for each UE and is informed to UE via ‘Activate default EPS bearer context request’ message as shown below. (Followings are just a couple of examples.)

Activate default EPS bearer context request ::= DIVISION

.    …

    EPS quality of service

        Length: 1

        Quality of Service Class Identifier (QCI): QCI 9 (9)

Activate dedicated EPS bearer context request ::= DIVISION

.    …

    EPS quality of service

        Length: 5

        Quality of Service Class Identifier (QCI): QCI 1 (1)

        Maximum bit rate for uplink : 1 kbps

        Maximum bit rate for downlink : 1 kbps

        Guaranteed bit rate for uplink : 1 kbps

        Guaranteed bit rate for downlink : 1 kbps