A network controller apparatus configured to associate a cell identifier with a scrambling code in a cellular communications network, the network controller comprising: a processor; a memory; and a non-transitory computer readable medium with computer executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, perform the following steps: detecting a scrambling code that is not associated with a cell by receiving through a target cell, cell data associated with a scrambling code, when the relationship between the data and the identity of the cell responsible for the data is not accurate or there is no relationship at all; determining a set of candidate cells within a predetermined search area corresponding to a coverage area of the target cell; wherein a candidate cell is a cell that is candidate for being associated with the scrambling code; evaluating characteristics of each candidate cell of the set of candidate cells by testing a candidate cell of the set of candidate cells by: temporarily associating a base station identifier, BSID, of the candidate cell with the detected scrambling code on a neighbor list of the target cell; collecting one or more handover performance metrics based on handovers to the candidate cell; and evaluating the one or more handover performance metrics; and associating a cell identifier of a candidate cell of the set of candidate cells with the detected scrambling code based on the evaluated one or more handover performance metrics; wherein the neighbor list is a list of handover targets provided to user equipment served by the target cell; wherein handover performance metric includes any of a number of handover attempts, a number of handover successes, a number of handover failures, and a handover success ratio. a processor; a memory; and a non-transitory computer readable medium with computer executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, perform the following steps: detecting a scrambling code that is not associated with a cell by receiving through a target cell, cell data associated with a scrambling code, when the relationship between the data and the identity of the cell responsible for the data is not accurate or there is no relationship at all; determining a set of candidate cells within a predetermined search area corresponding to a coverage area of the target cell; wherein a candidate cell is a cell that is candidate for being associated with the scrambling code; evaluating characteristics of each candidate cell of the set of candidate cells by testing a candidate cell of the set of candidate cells by: temporarily associating a base station identifier, BSID, of the candidate cell with the detected scrambling code on a neighbor list of the target cell; collecting one or more handover performance metrics based on handovers to the candidate cell; and evaluating the one or more handover performance metrics; and associating a cell identifier of a candidate cell of the set of candidate cells with the detected scrambling code based on the evaluated one or more handover performance metrics; wherein the neighbor list is a list of handover targets provided to user equipment served by the target cell; wherein handover performance metric includes any of a number of handover attempts, a number of handover successes, a number of handover failures, and a handover success ratio. detecting a scrambling code that is not associated with a cell by receiving through a target cell, cell data associated with a scrambling code, when the relationship between the data and the identity of the cell responsible for the data is not accurate or there is no relationship at all; determining a set of candidate cells within a predetermined search area corresponding to a coverage area of the target cell; wherein a candidate cell is a cell that is candidate for being associated with the scrambling code; evaluating characteristics of each candidate cell of the set of candidate cells by testing a candidate cell of the set of candidate cells by: temporarily associating a base station identifier, BSID, of the candidate cell with the detected scrambling code on a neighbor list of the target cell; collecting one or more handover performance metrics based on handovers to the candidate cell; and evaluating the one or more handover performance metrics; and temporarily associating a base station identifier, BSID, of the candidate cell with the detected scrambling code on a neighbor list of the target cell; collecting one or more handover performance metrics based on handovers to the candidate cell; and evaluating the one or more handover performance metrics; and associating a cell identifier of a candidate cell of the set of candidate cells with the detected scrambling code based on the evaluated one or more handover performance metrics; wherein the neighbor list is a list of handover targets provided to user equipment served by the target cell; wherein handover performance metric includes any of a number of handover attempts, a number of handover successes, a number of handover failures, and a handover success ratio.