A method in a network node (115A-C, 120, 130) comprises providing (704) to a user equipment (UE) (110A-C) a dedicated physical control channel (DPCCH), the DPCCH having an associated first fractional dedicated physical channel (F-DPCH) for conveying transmit power control (TPC) commands to the UE for power controlling the DPCCH, the first F-DPCH having a first allocated slot format; providing (708) to the UE a dedicated physical control channel2 (DPCCH2) (502), the DPCCH2 comprising an uplink control channel power controlled by the network node for communicating TPC commands to the network node, the DPCCH2 having an associated second F-DPCH for conveying transmit power control commands to the UE for power controlling the DPCCH2, the second F-DPCH having a second allocated slot format different from the first allocated slot format; and communicating (712) to the UE an uplink TPC command on the second F-DPCH having the second allocated slot format.