Access nodes of a large-scale network are arranged into a number of groups. The groups are arranged into a number of bands. Each distributor of a pool of distributors interconnects each access node of a selected group to at least one channel from each group of a selected band. A discipline of allocating the selected group and the selected band to a distributor ensures that each access node has: a number, approximately equal to half the number of groups, of parallel single-hop paths to each other access node of a same group; a number, approximately equal to half the number of bands, of parallel single-hop paths to each access node of a different group within a same band; and one single-hop path to each other access node of a different access band. To eliminate the need for cross connectors, geographically-spread distributors are arranged into geographically-spread constellations of collocated distributors.