A system and method for SSS detection under carrier frequency offset in an orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) downlink channel. A processor receives a signal sample that includes a transmission on a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and a transmission on a one secondary synchronization signal (SSS). The processor determines a correlation “P” of a first symbol transmitted in the PSS of the signal sample to a first known symbol at each time “t” of time increments k of the signal sample and a correlation “S” of a second symbol transmitted in the a SSS to a second known symbol at each time t-.5/7 msecs. The processor receives a candidate phase rotation of θi from a set of “i” candidates and determines a correlation “Cmax” over the time increments k representing a maximum amplitude of a combined correlation of S and P, with P rotated by θi. The processor determines the cell identifier from the first and second known symbols that produced S and P of C max and an estimation of the frequency offset between a transmitter of the signal sample and a receiver of the signal sample.