—Orthogonal variable spreading factor (OVSF) codes are used in both universal terrestrial radio access–frequency division duplex (UTRA-FDD) and time division duplex (UTRA-TDD) of the third-generation (3G) mobile communication systems. They can support multirate transmissions for mobile terminals with multicode transmission capabilities. In this paper, a new OVSF code assignment scheme, namely “multicode multirate compact assignment” (MMCA), is proposed and analyzed. The design of MMCA is based on the concept of “compact index” and takes into consideration mobile terminals with different multicode transmission capabilities and different quality of service (QoS) requirements. Priority differentiation between multirate realtime traffic and best-effort data traffic is also supported in MMCA. Analytical and simulation results show that MMCA is efficient and fair.