A variable bandwidth OFDM receiver and methods for receiving OFDM signals of different bandwidths are generally disclosed herein. The variable bandwidth OFDM receiver may be configured to receive signals over wider bandwidths by processing a resource block of subcarriers comprising a greater number of subcarriers, and receive signals over narrower bandwidths by processing a resource block of subcarriers comprising a lesser number of subcarriers. The resource blocks have a number of OFDM symbols in a time dimension to define a time slot, and each wherein the resource block comprises a minimum number of subcarriers for a narrowest bandwidth for a predetermined minimum bandwidth reception and a predetermined maximum number of subcarriers for a maximum bandwidth reception. In some embodiments, the variable bandwidth receiver may operate in accordance with an 3GPP LTE E-UTRAN standard.