A system and method for reducing access channel delay in a wireless communication system includes a step 601 of sending an initial access request response that includes identifiers of any initial access requests, including an indicator that indicates whether any more responses with identifiers are going to be sent within a predefined time period. A next step 602 includes receiving the response. A next step 604 includes recognizing that a particular identifier from the initial access request is not in the response. A next step 606 includes determining from the indicator that there will be no more responses with identifiers sent within the predefined time period. A next step 608 includes transmitting another initial access request before the end of the predefined time period.