Provided is a system and method of digitally encoding and decoding digital data during the transmission process using a combination of Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) and turbo coding. A DSSS de-spreading process is used in place of the outer decoder functional block of a turbo decoder, which removes the need for a dedicated outer ECC code. Removal of the dedicated outer ECC code allows for an increase in the actual data rate transmitted through the channel (compared with a system which uses a discrete DSSS stage after Turbo coding or some other ECC code) because the number of bits to be transmitted for a given data rate has been reduced.