A method performed in a base station includes the base station determining a level of interference in a channel between the base station and the wireless communication device based on a signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) in the channel. The base station determines, in accordance with the determined interference, whether to use a predetermined power level to transmit a message to the wireless communication device. In response to determining to use the predetermined power level, the base station further determines whether the wireless communication device requires downlink signal radio bearer (SRB) assignments. In response to determining that the wireless communication device requires the downlink signal radio bearer assignments, the base station transmits the message to the wireless communication device using a downlink control information (DCI) message format having a same size as a message format used for uplink messages.