A system and method for distributed control of spectrum power in a multi-cell communication system are provided. A plurality of cells included in a multi-cell communication system may be grouped into a plurality of groups. Cells included in a first group may iteratively calculate spectrum powers to perform dynamic spectrum management (DSM) scheme in calculation sub-frames. The cells included in the first group may also perform a user scheduling. Spectrum powers determined by cells included in a second group and user scheduling results of the cells in the second group may be held static.