A Method and apparatus for selectively applying, by a User Equipment (UE), Frequency Hopping (FH) for a transmission of Uplink Control Information (UCI) signals in a Physical Uplink Control CHannel (PUCCH). The UE applies FH when the UCI is of a first type and does not apply FH when the UCI is of a second type. The UE applies FH when transmission diversity is not applied to the UCI transmission and does not apply FH when transmission diversity is applied to the UCI transmission. UEs operating in a legacy mode do not apply FH to the UCI transmission while UEs operating with additional functionalities may apply FH to the UCI transmission according to the UCI type and the use of transmission diversity.