A wireless communication apparatus comprising: a memory; and a Multi-Input-Multi-Output, MIMO, and beamforming processor to process Multi-User, MU, MIMO communications via an antenna array (108, 404, 507) of a wireless communication node (400, 101, 150, 202, 204, 206, 302, 304, 306), the MIMO and beamforming processor to cause one or more first sub-arrays of the antenna array (108, 404, 507) to form one or more first directional beams (406, 407, 535) to allow communications on one or more backhaul links between the wireless communication node (400, 101, 150, 202, 204, 206, 302, 304, 306) and one or more other wireless communication nodes (410, 412), and to cause one or more second sub-arrays of the antenna array (108, 404, 507) to form one or more second directional beams (408, 409, 545) to allow communications on one or more access links between the wireless communication node (400, 101, 150, 202, 204, 206, 302, 304, 306) and one or more User Equipment, UEs (416, 418); a backhaul processor to process the communications on said one or more backhaul links and configured to forward traffic received from a first other wireless communication node via a first backhaul beam to a second other wireless communication node via a second backhaul beam; and an access processor to process the communications on said one or more access links, and configured to send data received from a UE to the backhaul processor that further sends the data to the first other wireless communication node through a baseband processor, wherein the access processor and the backhaul processor are implemented as two separate elements. a memory; and a Multi-Input-Multi-Output, MIMO, and beamforming processor to process Multi-User, MU, MIMO communications via an antenna array (108, 404, 507) of a wireless communication node (400, 101, 150, 202, 204, 206, 302, 304, 306), the MIMO and beamforming processor to cause one or more first sub-arrays of the antenna array (108, 404, 507) to form one or more first directional beams (406, 407, 535) to allow communications on one or more backhaul links between the wireless communication node (400, 101, 150, 202, 204, 206, 302, 304, 306) and one or more other wireless communication nodes (410, 412), and to cause one or more second sub-arrays of the antenna array (108, 404, 507) to form one or more second directional beams (408, 409, 545) to allow communications on one or more access links between the wireless communication node (400, 101, 150, 202, 204, 206, 302, 304, 306) and one or more User Equipment, UEs (416, 418); a backhaul processor to process the communications on said one or more backhaul links and configured to forward traffic received from a first other wireless communication node via a first backhaul beam to a second other wireless communication node via a second backhaul beam; and an access processor to process the communications on said one or more access links, and configured to send data received from a UE to the backhaul processor that further sends the data to the first other wireless communication node through a baseband processor, wherein the access processor and the backhaul processor are implemented as two separate elements.