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The recently approved mobile version of the Digital Video Broadcasting Return Channel via Satellite (DVB‐RCS+M) foresees the use of direct sequence spectrum spreading (DS‐SS) in the forward link. The addition of a spreading mode, on top of the conventional time division signaling structure of the fixed DVB‐S2, allows in fact for the efficient extension of DVB‐S2 to mobile terminals with small aperture antennas operating in Ku (11–14 GHz) and Ka (20–30 GHz) bands. Spectrum spreading has been introduced to augment the received energy without increasing the transmitted power density, which is limited by regulatory constraints, and to enhance the waveform resilience to co‐channel interference. In this paper, we report on the design and assessment of the DS‐SS technique that we carried out for its inclusion in the DVB‐RCS+M standard. In particular, by comparing the physical layer performance of the …