A base station for use in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) network that communicates with a plurality of subscriber stations in a coverage area of the OFDM network. The base station allocates subbands to the subscriber stations for communication in an uplink and in a downlink. Each subband comprises a group of subcarriers. The base station allocates one of: i) a plurality of consecutive subbands and ii) a plurality of non-consecutive subbands to a first subscriber station according to at least one selectable criteria. The at least one selectable criteria comprises a channel quality value or a mobility value associated with the first subscriber station, or an operating mode of the base station. The base station allocates non-consecutive subbands or consecutive subbands depending on the at least one selectable criteria. The base station allocates non-consecutive subbands using a bitmap indicator and allocates consecutive subbands using a start-end indicator.