Cho enhancement based on source and target cells in nes mode

A method of a user equipment (UE) for conditional handover (CHO) in a wireless network including cells in a network energy saving (NES) mode, the method comprising:

• measuring reference signals from candidate target cells in the wireless network and reporting corresponding measurement values to a source cell in the wireless network;
• receiving, at the UE from the source cell, a CHO configuration and an NES CHO configuration;
• in a handover execution phase of a CHO procedure:
• evaluating a CHO condition based on the CHO configuration;
• in response to detecting that the source cell is in the NES mode, switching from evaluating the CHO condition based on the CHO configuration to performing an NES CHO evaluation based on the NES CHO configuration;
• selecting a target cell from among the candidate target cells based on the NES CHO evaluation;
• and
• completing a handover to the target cell.