A method is provided for controlling transmissions between a base station and a mobile station in a wireless system using a plurality of subcarriers. A subcarrier allocation scheme is proposed where a total scheduling interval is divided into at least two sub-intervals. In a first interval, data transmission takes place using a large number of subcarriers. In a second interval, a smaller number of subcarriers are used for transmission. In a time-synchronized system, the first interval overlaps with the first interval in at least some neighboring cells and the second interval overlaps with the second interval in at least some neighboring cells.