Apparatus and method for adaptive channel quality feedback in a multicarrier wireless network

For use in a wireless network, a base station configured to communicate with a plurality of subscriber stations according to a multi-carrier protocol, wherein the base station transmits in a downlink to the plurality of subscriber stations using N subbands, each of the N subbands comprising a plurality of subcarriers, the base station comprising:

• a receiver configured to receive from a first one of the plurality of subscriber stations a feedback message, the feedback message comprising first data representing a first channel quality indicator value indicating channel quality determined by the first subscriber station across the N subbands and second data representing a value indicating a relative difference between the first channel quality indicator value and a second channel quality indicator value indicating channel quality determined by the first subscriber station within one subband of the N subbands,
• wherein the base station is configured to use the first and second data from the feedback message to allocate a group of subcarriers for transmitting in the downlink to the first subscriber station.