International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) Advanced technology, also known as 4th Generation (4G) targets to support up to 100 MHz BW. LTE currently supports single carrier bandwidths of up to 20 MHz. The present application describes a multi-carrier approach in which some embodiments of the invention provide a simple solution of aggregating multiple single carrier bandwidths to obtain a wider bandwidth (>20 MHz). Such an approach may extend Long Term Evolution (LTE) bandwidth to greater than that provided by a single carrier, yet maintain full backward compatibility with technologies that predate 4G technology and utilize smaller, single carrier bandwidths. More generally, embodiments of the invention can apply to other communication standards than only LTE.