Cloud radio access networks (C-RANs) have been touted as a viable alternative to

current communication network architectures for handling larger data volumes and higher

throughput requirements, in order to serve a growing number of data-hungry devices.

In this dissertation, we study information theoretic models of uplink and downlink

C-RANs and explore questions on optimal data throughputs and large-network size

asymptotics. In addition, as a rst step on the path to achieving these tradeos in

practice, we demonstrate how one can build codes for multiuser networks and provide

finite-blocklength performance guarantees by starting from single-user codes.