In a radio communication system having a primary station and a plurality of secondary stations, the power of uplink and downlink channels between the primary station and a secondary station is controlled in a closed loop manner by each station transmitting power control commands to the other station. In response to these commands the receiving station adjusts its output power in steps. By combining a plurality of received power control commands before adjusting its output power the receiving station may emulate the ability to use a smaller power control step size than its minimum, thereby improving performance under certain channel conditions. In one embodiment when the required power control step size is less than the minimum step size of a particular station, that station processes a group of power control commands to determine whether to adjust its output power by its minimum step size. In an alternative embodiment the power control step size is fixed when the combining algorithm is used. The invention is applicable to power control in both primary and secondary stations.