The present disclosure presents a method and an apparatus for self-configuring a physical cell identify (PCI) at a cell upon detecting a PCI confusion at a neighbor cell. For example, the method may include detecting that a PCI confusion exists at a second cell based on a message (e.g., configuration update message or a X2 setup response message) received from the second cell. The first cell may initiate a timer that is selected from a first timer and a second timer, the first timer longer in duration than the second timer. The first cell then configures a new PCI for the first cell when the timer expires or maintains a current PCI for the first cell when the timer is reset prior to expiration. As such, self-configuration of PCI at a cell may be achieved.