Methods and apparatus are provided for cell access via the anchor carrier. In one novel aspect, the default bandwidth with a default subcarrier spacing in an anchor carrier is provided. The subcarrier spacing for the default bandwidth is the minimum subcarrier spacing of the numerologies supported by the system, depending on the frequency band and/or the deployment scenario. In one embodiment, one or more control information comprising SS1, SS2, RS, NR_MIB, and NR_ESI are received over the default bandwidth. In another embodiment, the Non-ESI information is received through one of Non-ESI carriers comprising a Msg4 during RACH access procedure, a dedicated channel for the UE as a user specific data scheduled by a SI-response message, and a broadcast data with a default or configurable period indicated for transmission by a SI-response message.