Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to defining a structure of and enhanced physical downlink control channel (e-PDCCH). Certain aspects provide methods and apparatus for determining a search space in which a base station (eNodeB) may transmit an enhanced physical downlink control channel (e-PDCCH), wherein the search space comprises one or more fractional portions of frequency-time resources of a physical resource block (PRB) pair, and attempting to decode the e-PDCCH based on the determined search space.