AbstractIn multiple‐access communication systems several users share the system resources, thus creating co‐channel interference to each other. Multiuser detection, applied at the receiver side, is a powerful technique to combat co‐channel interference, in contrast to single‐user approaches that treat the interference as additive noise. In this paper, we investigate the feasibility of achieving increased spectral efficiency in GSM‐like TDMA networks by applying multiuser detection. We focus on downlink operation and consider two mobile users that share the same physical channel within the same cell or in two adjacent cells. No synchronization between the base stations is assumed. Mobile terminals exploit multiple receiving antennas. We propose a simple iterative receiver algorithm that performs joint channel and data estimation. Results of simulations that evaluate the receiver's performance are presented. Copyright