A method of operating a radio receiver to receive downlink control information from a wireless network over a physical downlink control channel, said method comprising receiving a plurality of downlink control information prospect signals; decoding at least one of said prospect signals to produce a prospect sequence; reading a declared repetition level from said prospect sequence; comparing said declared repetition level with a repetition level specified in a predetermined format hypothesis for said downlink control information to determine whether a match exists; if said match exists, storing at least part of said prospect sequence as a prospect stored portion; and subsequently deriving said downlink control information from a prospect stored portion and using said downlink control information in further communications.