A method for performing virtualization of a radio access technology (RAT) over Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) wireless networks is provided. The method includes splitting OFDMA time-frequency resources into non-overlapping regions including a virtualization region including a part of a spectrum and the OFDMA symbols that are reserved for virtualization of the RAT; reserving resource elements of the OFDMA time-frequency resources in the virtualization region, for insertion of downlink reference signals including complex sequences known by a receiver to perform downlink channel estimation with a specified separation between signals in time and frequency domains; inserting training or pilot signals along the OFDMA time-frequency resources of the virtualization region; and mapping complex baseband symbols corresponding to information from the RAT into the OFDMA time-frequency resources of the virtualization region.