Systems, apparatuses, and methods for a handover procedure in heterogeneous networks are provided. In particular, an intermediate handover (IHO) is introduced. Certain aspects of the disclosure involve, a method, performed at a serving base station of a wireless communications network, where the serving base station serves a user equipment (UE). The method includes receiving a downlink (DL) signal quality indicator from the UE; and determining, from the signal quality indicator, whether a condition for an intermediate handover (IHO) state is satisfied. If the condition for the intermediate handover state is satisfied, the serving base station can initiate the intermediate handover state.