At least one feature pertains to a method operational at a user device that includes receiving, from an application service provider, an application-specific certificate associated with at least one application service provided by the application service provider. The method also includes determining that a wireless communication network provides application-specific access to the application service provided by the application service provider, and transmitting a registration request including the application-specific certificate to the wireless communication network for authentication of the user device. The application-specific certificate includes a user device public key. The method further includes performing authentication and key agreement with the wireless communication network, and communicating with the application service after authentication and key agreement is successfully performed. In one aspect, authentication and key agreement with the network is performed directly between the user device and the network and independent to the application service provider.