A method and apparatus for support communication devices with different communication technologies within the same communication channel includes establishing a common frame structure for the communication channel, the frame having a fixed length and having downlink and uplink portions split between different first and second communication technologies. A next step includes providing different control messages for the respective different technologies in the frame. A next step includes decoding downlink data in a downlink subframe of the frame using the different technologies utilizing information in the control messages. A next step includes supplying uplink data in an uplink subframe of the frame using the different technologies utilizing information in the control messages.