This invention relates to a transmission power control method and transmission power control apparatus in a mobile communication system. The reception quality of a signal (31, 32a, 32b, 41, or 42) transmitted from another mobile station (51 or 52) or base station (21 or 22) is compared with a predetermined control target value such as a signal-to-interference ratio. The comparison result is used for transmission power control on a remote station. If a frame error is detected in a transmitted signal, the control target value is increased by SIRinc. If no frame error is detected, the control target value is decreased by SIRdec. As SIRdec, the product of a target value of a frame error rate and SIRinc is set. With this operation, when a propagation environment such as multibus or moving speed changes, the control target value for transmission power control is changed within a short period of time, and channel quality is maintained constant, thus realizing desired channel quality.