Aspects of the disclosure relate to communication systems, apparatus and methods which enable or support configuring timing advance in a radio access network. The method includes defining a timing advance configuration for a radio access network that employs a modulation scheme with scalable numerology, determining timing advance parameters consistent with the timing advance configuration for a user equipment (UE) that is in communication with the radio access network, and transmitting the timing advance parameters to the UE during an initial access procedure involving the UE or while the UE is in a connected state in the radio access network. The timing advance configuration may be defined to accommodate a numerology used by the radio access network.