A base station device can transmit data via multiple data channels to a single user equipment device. Each of the multiple data channels can be configured and scheduled via respective downlink control channels to the user equipment device. In an embodiment, the first data channel can be mapped to multiple layers, with a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) assigned based on the average channel quality indicator (CQI) of the layers. One or more of the layers can have a higher CQI however, capable of supporting an additional transmission. The base station device can then facilitate establishing a second data channel to the layer with the higher CQI. The MCS assigned to the second data traffic channel can be based on the CQI of the layer, or based on a difference between the average CQI of the layers and the CQI of the layer.