A method executed in a wireless communication network including at least one base station associated to a corresponding area transmitting/receiving data to/from corresponding user terminals located within the area. The method generates a user-rate matrix for each base station. Each element of the user-rate matrix provides a corresponding score, in terms of achievable rate, to a user terminal or group of user terminals within the corresponding area when a transmission is made to/from the user terminal or group of user terminals, respectively, from/to the base station by employing a selected transmission mode. The method further processes the elements of the user-rate matrix to create a scheduling list sorting the elements by a decreasing score, and associating to each user terminal a corresponding selected transmission mode based on the scheduling list for the transmission/reception of data to/from the base station.