A wireless communication device performs error correction decoding after combining newly received data from a new transmission of data and retransmitted received data from a retransmission of the data. The wireless communication device comprises a storage unit operable to store newly received data, a reception quality evaluation unit operable to evaluate reception quality for the retransmitted received data or reception quality for combined data obtained by combining the retransmitted received data with the newly received data stored in the storage unit, and a control unit operable to perform control as to whether to decode the retransmitted received data or the combined data according to the results of the evaluation.