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Transmission power control is essential in systems of the third-generation (3G) in order to optimize the bandwidth utilization, which is critical when variable data rates are used. One remaining problem is oscillations in the output powers, due to round-trip delays in the power control loops together with the power up-down command device. The oscillations are naturally quantified using discrete time-describing functions, which are introduced and applied. More importantly, time-delay compensation (TDC) is proposed to mitigate the oscillations. When employing TDC, the power control algorithm exhibits greater stability, which is important from a network perspective. Simulations illustrate the oscillations and the benefits of TDC. Moreover, the fading tracking capability is improved, and thus, less fading margin is needed. The results apply not only to wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), but to other direct-sequence (DS) CDMA systems power controlled in a similar manner as well.