Various communication systems may benefit from improved random access procedures. For example, it may be helpful to improve random access procedure when a network entity does not have any downlink data to transmit. A method, according to certain embodiments, may include receiving at a network entity from a user equipment a short contention resolution identifier. The method may also include transmitting from the network entity to the user equipment downlink control information comprising at least the short contention resolution identifier on a physical downlink control channel.