A system and method for physical shared channel allocation in a UMTS wireless communication system. A physical shared channel allocation message (220) is sent containing a plurality of occurrences of allocated physical resources and TFCS IDs; and, at a radio unit (130A), the sent physical shared channel allocation message is received and the plurality of occurrences of allocated physical resources and TFCS IDs contained therein are processed, thereby allowing a plurality of CCTrCHs to be allocated with a single physical shared channel allocation message (220). This provides the advantage that, using only a limited set of defined transport format combinations, a large portion of the physical resource can be allocated and used by a single UE using a single physical shared channel allocation message.