One aspect of the teachings herein involves the advantageous use of learned statistical information to improve inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC). The network uses historical signal quality measurements collected over time for wireless communication devices operating within its coverage areas to identify those geographical areas where devices generally experience significant levels of patterned interference. In an example case, the network develops a “map” of the geographical areas that are affected by the transmission patterns of neighboring nodes, and it applies the map to ICIC operations, wherein the serving nodes associated with the affected areas incorporate knowledge of the interfering transmission patterns into the ongoing scheduling of users operating in the affected areas.