LOCATION BY REFERENCE FOR AN OVER-THE-TOP EMERGENCY CALL

Methods and apparatuses for providing support for location and emergency calls for an over-the-top (OTT) service provider (SP) are disclosed. An access network node receives a first message from a UE, determines a location reference for the UE, and sends a second message including the location reference to the UE. The access network node may determine the location reference itself on behalf of a location server or may request the location server to assign and return the location reference. The access network node may serve as a proxy and avoid interaction between the UE and the location server. The location server may later receive a location request for the UE from a network entity wherein the location request includes the location reference. The location server may locate the UE using the location reference and return the UE location to the network entity.