A method and an apparatus for performing a handover in an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) are disclosed. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) sends a measurement report to a source evolved Node B (eNB), and receives a handover command from the source eNB. The WTRU initiates reception and processing of a primary broadcast channel (P-BCH) at the target cell after receiving the handover command. The WTRU then sends a random access preamble to the target eNB, receives a random access response from the target eNB, and sends a handover complete message to the target eNB. The reception and processing of the P-BCH may be initiated immediately after receiving the handover command or after sending the handover complete message. The WTRU may apply default configuration or source cell configuration in the target cell until a target cell SFN and/or P-BCH information are acquired.