Method for operating a broadband access network of a telecommunications network comprising a plurality of central office points of delivery (110, 111, 112, 113), wherein each one of the plurality of central office points of delivery (110, 111, 112, 113) comprises a transport functionality or service and has or is connected to an access functionality being realized by means of a plurality of access nodes that terminate physical subscriber lines serving end users of the telecommunications network, wherein, regarding a specific central office point of delivery, the respective transport functionality or service acts as an ingress router and/or an egress router to a wide area network domain, wherein the wide area network domain is or corresponds to a multiprotocol label switching, MPLS, domain, wherein the wide area network domain handles and/or transports marked data packets in a connection oriented manner, wherein the marked data packets are or correspond to MPLS-labelled data packets, characterized in that the transport functionality or service corresponds to or comprises a switching fabric with a leaf/spine architecture, wherein the switching fabric comprises at least one spine network node (171, 172), wherein the at least one spine network node (171, 172) is part of the wide area network domain and acts as identifier-based switch router within the wide area network domain, and wherein, in order to operate the broadband access network for providing the access functionality associated with the plurality of central office points of delivery (110, 111, 112, 113), the at least one spine network node (171, 172) of the specific central office point of delivery, in addition to acting as ingress router and/or as egress router, acts as label switch router providing an identifier-based switch router functionality of or towards the wide area network domain such that: -- in a first step, the specific central office point of delivery receives marked data packets from a first central office point of delivery, and -- in a second step, transmits the marked data packets to a second central office point of delivery. wherein each one of the plurality of central office points of delivery (110, 111, 112, 113) comprises a transport functionality or service and has or is connected to an access functionality being realized by means of a plurality of access nodes that terminate physical subscriber lines serving end users of the telecommunications network, wherein, regarding a specific central office point of delivery, the respective transport functionality or service acts as an ingress router and/or an egress router to a wide area network domain, wherein the wide area network domain is or corresponds to a multiprotocol label switching, MPLS, domain, wherein the wide area network domain handles and/or transports marked data packets in a connection oriented manner, wherein the marked data packets are or correspond to MPLS-labelled data packets, characterized in that the transport functionality or service corresponds to or comprises a switching fabric with a leaf/spine architecture, wherein the switching fabric comprises at least one spine network node (171, 172), wherein the at least one spine network node (171, 172) is part of the wide area network domain and acts as identifier-based switch router within the wide area network domain, and wherein, in order to operate the broadband access network for providing the access functionality associated with the plurality of central office points of delivery (110, 111, 112, 113), the at least one spine network node (171, 172) of the specific central office point of delivery, in addition to acting as ingress router and/or as egress router, acts as label switch router providing an identifier-based switch router functionality of or towards the wide area network domain such that: -- in a first step, the specific central office point of delivery receives marked data packets from a first central office point of delivery, and -- in a second step, transmits the marked data packets to a second central office point of delivery. -- in a first step, the specific central office point of delivery receives marked data packets from a first central office point of delivery, and -- in a second step, transmits the marked data packets to a second central office point of delivery.