The invention relates to a method of globally balancing the transmit power in a cellular radio system with tight reuse of frequencies, to a central controller node, and to an access point that in combination with conventional power control schemes balances the downlink transmission power on reused frequencies in order to balance co-channel interference in a multi-cell environment. The power balancing scheme dynamically assigns a token to or takes a token away from an individual reused radio channel based on quality of, or based on transmission power in the channel. A token, if taken away from the channel, inhibits conventional power control thereby freezing the transmission power in the channel on its current power level. A token, if assigned or re-assigned to channel, re-assumes conventional power control thereby allowing dynamic variation of the transmission power in the channel in accordance with the conventional power control.