Q: Iphone 5c Searching and now needs Activation

Can anyone offer tips? My 5c that is less than a year old has been saying "searching".  It started just doing this every now and again.  And usually would be ok after a hard reset.  Now, it does it multiple times daily.  I just did a hard reset and when I turned it back on, it is now saying "Activation Required".  My phone has been successfully updated and that it may take a few minutes to activate my iphone.  and then it just "sits" on that screen.  Any thoughts or tips?