RADIO ACCESS NETWORKS

A communication system includes remote units to exchange RF signals with mobile devices, at least some of the RF signals comprising information destined for, or originating from, a mobile device. The communication system also includes at least one controller or controller resource communicatively coupled to an external network and configured to assign airlink resources to the user equipment. The at least one controller or controller resource is separated from the remote units by an intermediate network comprising a switched Ethernet network over which data corresponding to the information is carried between the at least one controller or controller resource and the remote units. Two or more of the remote units are configured to belong to the same communication cell. The at least one controller or controller resource is configured to assign two or more of the user equipment in the same communication cell to simultaneously use a same airlink resource.