A method and apparatus provide reception of control signaling in a wireless communication network. A first set of a first number (k1) of control channel Blind Decoding (BD) candidates can be monitored in a first subframe at an aggregation level for a control channel transmission in the first subframe starting from a first OFDM symbol position in the first subframe. A second set of a second number (k2) of control channel BD candidates can be monitored in the first subframe at the aggregation level in the first subframe starting from a second OFDM symbol position in the first subframe. A third set of a third number (k3) of control channel BD candidates can be monitored in a second subframe at the aggregation level in the second subframe starting only from a first OFDM symbol position in the second subframe when a Downlink Control Information (DCI) intended for the device is successfully decoded from a candidate in the second set of the second number (k2) of control channel BD candidates, where k3>k1 and k3>k2. The first OFDM symbol position in the first subframe can be the same position as the first OFDM symbol position in the second subframe.