In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a method and system for allocating power in a transmission system may be provided. A method may include determining a channel quality for each of a plurality of subcarriers, wherein the channel quality for each individual subcarrier is equal to the signal-to-interference and noise ratio for the individual subcarrier divided by the power allocated to the subcarrier. The method may also include allocating power to a subset of the plurality of subcarriers, wherein each individual subcarrier of the subset has a channel quality greater then each individual subcarrier not of the subset. The method may further include transmitting a signal on each of the individual subcarriers of the subset.