Error control schemes for reliable data transmission in Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) cellular systems are studied. The proposed forward error correction (FEC) scheme employs Reed-Solomon (RS) outer codes concatenated with convolutional inner codes. A type-I hybrid automatic repeat request (ARQ) scheme, which uses the error detection capability of the RS codes and is based on the selective-repeat strategy, is described. The performance of transparent and non-transparent data transmission is evaluated by using a new tight upper bound on the convolutional code performance in independent Rayleigh fading channels and by invoking the Gaussian assumption forthe multiple access interference. In particular, code design examples for transparent and nontransparent data transmission at 9.6 and 128 kbit/s and their performance are presented.