Disclosed herein are methods, apparatuses, and systems for establishing lightweight communications between different network components. A messaging process is utilized which includes a random access procedure for a user equipment (UE) and an eNodeB, and a messaging sequence comprising a reduced number of messages (compared to a legacy Radio Resource Control (RRC) Connection messaging sequence) exchanged between different nodes of the network to establish a lightweight connection. These messages can be generated using any combination of pre-configured or pre-determined data specific to either the UE or to lightweight communications.