Techniques for transmitting power decision pilots are described. A transmitter (e.g., a base station or a UE) may transmit a power decision pilot to indicate a transmit power level that it will use on subsequent time-frequency resources. In one design, the transmitter may determine a set of time-frequency resources to use for transmitting the power decision pilot, determine the transmit power level for the power decision pilot based on the transmit power level to use for data transmission, and transmit the power decision pilot on the set of time-frequency resources to indicate the transmit power level to use for data transmission on the subsequent time-frequency resources. A receiver (e.g., a UE or a base station) may receive power decision pilots from a set of transmitters and may estimate channel quality that the receiver can expect on the subsequent time-frequency resources based on the power decision pilots.