A system is provided for transmitting a low code rate spatially multiplexed channel on multiple antennas. The system includes a transmitter and a processor. The processor is configured such that the processor encodes a block of information bits to form channel coded bits, wherein the ratio of the number of channel coded bits to the number of information bits is greater than one; and the processor maps the channel coded bits to modulation symbols, and each channel coded bit is mapped once to a modulation symbol. The transmitter is configured to transmit a first portion of the modulation symbols using a spreading sequence on a first antenna of the multiple antennas and to transmit a second portion of the modulation symbols using the spreading sequence on a second antenna of the multiple antennas.