The described aspects include methods and apparatus for activating a transmitter to communicate in a wireless network. A small cell can determine to activate the transmitter to serve user equipment (UE) in a wireless network. The small cell can then broadcast a portion of a set of broadcast signals in a radio frame and broadcast a remaining portion of the set of broadcast signals along with the portion of the set of broadcast signals in a subsequent radio frame. By refraining from immediately broadcasting all broadcast signals, the small cell can mitigate interference to other small cells. In addition, a UE can determine whether to generate random access channel (RACH) sequences for proximity determination or uplink timing synchronization based on parameters received in a RACH order. Moreover, a small cell with an active transmitter can decode discovery signals from a device to facilitate handover determination.