To reduce inter-sector interference for “weak” users and combat a potentially large variation in interference levels observed by “strong” and weak users, system resources (e.g., frequency subbands) available for data transmission in a system are partitioned into multiple (e.g., three) disjoint sets. Each sector in the system is assigned one subband set. Neighboring sectors are assigned different subband sets such that the subband set assigned to each sector is orthogonal to the subband sets assigned to neighboring sectors. Each sector has an assigned subband set and an unassigned subband set, which contains all subbands not in the assigned set. Weak users in each sector (which are typically strong interferers to neighboring sectors) are allocated subbands in the assigned set. Strong users in each sector are allocated subbands in the unassigned set. The weak users in each sector are then orthogonal to strong interferers in neighboring sectors.