A method for data rate selection of a data transmission on a wide band code division multiple access (WCDMA) radio frequency (RF) channel in a portable communication device (100) is provided. The portable communication device (100) has transmitter circuitry (108) which includes a power amplifier (250). The method includes the steps of determining a power backoff requirement for the power amplifier (250) for a data transmission on a WCDMA channel (320) and selecting a transport format combination (TFC) for the data transmission in response to the power backoff requirement (324).