1. A method for configuring a quantizer to be used for quantizing a source vector z for transmission over a noisy channel, the quantizer being configured to perform quantization within a space partitioned into N regions, each region being represented by a quantization codeword z i , the method comprising: determining an average symbol error probability for the noisy channel; selecting an initial set of quantization codewords and an initial partition of the space into N regions; calculating an updated set of the quantization codewords z 1 to z N , based on the partition of the space and on the average symbol error probability; calculating an updated partition of the space into the N regions using the updated set of quantization codewords; iteratively repeating the calculation of the updated set of the quantization codewords and the updated partition of the space until a threshold is met; and configuring the quantizer to perform quantization, after the threshold is met, using the updated partition of the space and the updated set of quantization codewords.