AbstractThis paper presents analytical results on the capacity of multiple‐input‐multiple‐output (MIMO) fading channels in the presence of co‐channel interference (CCI). We consider the scenario in which the desired and CCI users are all subject to Rayleigh fading. We assume that channel realizations of both the desired and CCI users are known at the receiver. Moreover, we consider the case where the transmitter does not have any CSI and as such equal‐power allocation among transmit antennas is used. Given this setup, we derive the moment generating function (MGF) and the mean of the mutual information (MI). We then study the complementary cumulative distribution function of the MI using a Gaussian approximation. Finally, we present and discuss numerical examples to illustrate the mathematical formalism and to show the effect of various parameters on the capacity of MIMO channels in the presence of CCI. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.