An approach is described for a user equipment (UE) for enhanced machine-type communication (eMTC) in a connected mode, where the UE includes processor circuitry and radio front end circuitry. The processor circuitry is configured to perform a downlink (DL) quality measurement, and to generate a DL quality report based on the DL quality measurement, wherein a definition of the DL quality report matches a definition of quality report in Msg3. The radio front end circuitry is configured to transmit the DL quality report to a next generation base station (gNB).