An access node for a telecommunications network is partitioned into a front end unit and a back end unit coupled by an internet protocol (IP) packet based communication link to provide for data and control packets to be sent between the back end unit and the front end unit. The front end unit performs physical layer and media access layer (MAC) sublayer processing for data for transmission to/from user equipment in the network using baseband processing units that perform highly parallel floating/fixed point operations. The back end unit includes a plurality of general purpose processors to provide data link layer and network layer processing. back end portions may be pooled to provide greater efficiency.