Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate automatically configuring a network configuration parameter (e.g., cell size parameter, . . . ) in a wireless communication environment. Size of an area served by a cell associated with a base station can be detected automatically by the base station. For example, size of the area served by the cell can be detected based upon location information of UE(s) served by the cell, a path loss between the base station and the UE(s) served by the cell, and/or a transmit power level of a reference signal sent by the base station. Moreover, a value of a network configuration parameter (e.g., cell size parameter, . . . ) can be automatically assigned by the base station as a function of a comparison between the size of the area served by the cell and a set of thresholds. For instance, the set of thresholds can be configurable by a network operator.