A method of operation of a MIMO transmitter, in a cellular network supporting both legacy standard-compliant mobile terminals and next generation standard-compliant mobile terminals, the method comprising defining a matrix of resource blocks within an information channel of the cellular network, wherein each resource block corresponds to a region of subcarriers of a transmission timeslot at a given frequency subband; assigning a first set of reference signals (RSs) for the legacy standard-compliant mobile terminals to resource blocks at specific locations within the matrix to be transmitted by the MIMO transmitter, the specific locations being defined by, the legacy standard; and assigning a second set of RSs for the next-generation standard-compliant mobile terminals to other resource blocks within the matrix to be transmitted by the MIMO transmitter.