A method for transmitting data via multiple antennas by modulating data to be transmitted into a plurality of modulated symbols, encoding each pair of modulated symbols from among said plurality of symbols in accordance with a transmission diversity scheme to result in a plurality of N by N matrices, with each N by N matrix corresponding to each pair of modulated symbols, generating a M by M code matrix comprised of the plurality of N by N matrices, orthogonally spreading the M by M code matrix to generate an output matrix, generating a plurality of row-permuted matrices by exchanging at least one pair of rows in the output matrix, and transmitting the symbols in the plurality of row-permuted matrices via a plurality of antennas by using either a space time transmission diversity scheme, a space frequency transmission diversity scheme, or a combination of a space time transmission diversity scheme and a space frequency transmission diversity scheme.