A method of providing a communication service to user terminals distributed over multiple forward user beam coverage areas via an end-to-end relay (503, 1202, 1502, 3403) comprising multiple forward receive/transmit signal paths, the method comprising: obtaining multiple forward beam signals comprising forward user data streams for transmission to a plurality of the user terminals grouped by the multiple forward user beam coverage areas; identifying a forward beam weight matrix for end-to-end beamforming of transmissions from a plurality of access nodes at geographically distributed locations to the multiple forward user beam coverage areas via the end-to-end relay, wherein the forward beam weight matrix accounts for wireless signal uplink paths up to the end-to-end relay, the multiple forward receive/transmit signal paths through the end-to-end relay, and wireless signal downlink paths down from the end-to-end relay; generating respective access node-specific forward signals for the plurality of access nodes, each of the respective access node-specific forward signals comprising a composite of respective forward beam signals weighted by respective forward beamforming weights of the forward beam weight matrix; and distributing the respective access node-specific forward signals to the plurality of access nodes with respective forward synchronization information for compensating for respective path delays and phase shifts between the plurality of access nodes and the end-to-end relay, wherein the respective access node-specific forward signals are for transmission to the end-to-end relay, for relay to the multiple forward user beam coverage areas, by the plurality of access nodes at respective time-domain offsets based at least in part on the respective forward synchronization information, in respective forward uplink signals which superpose to create composite input forward signals. obtaining multiple forward beam signals comprising forward user data streams for transmission to a plurality of the user terminals grouped by the multiple forward user beam coverage areas; identifying a forward beam weight matrix for end-to-end beamforming of transmissions from a plurality of access nodes at geographically distributed locations to the multiple forward user beam coverage areas via the end-to-end relay, wherein the forward beam weight matrix accounts for wireless signal uplink paths up to the end-to-end relay, the multiple forward receive/transmit signal paths through the end-to-end relay, and wireless signal downlink paths down from the end-to-end relay; generating respective access node-specific forward signals for the plurality of access nodes, each of the respective access node-specific forward signals comprising a composite of respective forward beam signals weighted by respective forward beamforming weights of the forward beam weight matrix; and distributing the respective access node-specific forward signals to the plurality of access nodes with respective forward synchronization information for compensating for respective path delays and phase shifts between the plurality of access nodes and the end-to-end relay, wherein the respective access node-specific forward signals are for transmission to the end-to-end relay, for relay to the multiple forward user beam coverage areas, by the plurality of access nodes at respective time-domain offsets based at least in part on the respective forward synchronization information, in respective forward uplink signals which superpose to create composite input forward signals.