A small cell for selecting a physical cell identifier (PCI) includes at least one processor configured to determine a provisioned list of PCI values from a management system. The at least one processor is also configured to sort the PCI values in the provisioned list into a sorted list based on at least one predetermined pattern and modulo X values of the PCI values, where X is a predetermined integer. The at least one processor is also configured to determine an index for each sector implemented by the small cell based on a sector ID for the sector. The at least one processor is also configured to select, for each sector implemented by the small cell, a PCI value from the sorted list based on a sector ID of the sector.