1. A method of generating channel estimates in a wireless communication receiver, for processing a received communication signal, the method comprising: generating first channel estimates from a set of pilot observations obtained from the received communication signal, using a first channel estimation process not dependent on knowledge of channel statistics; estimating channel statistics and a noise variance from the first channel estimates; and generating second channel estimates from the set of pilot observations, the estimated channel statistics, and the estimated noise variance, using a second channel estimation process dependent on knowledge of the channel statistics.