Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) is a broadband telecommunications network that connects several LANs in geographical proximity. As a rule, these are individual branches of a company connected to a MAN via leased lines. High-performance routers and high-performance connections based on glass fibers are used, which enable a significantly higher data throughput than the Internet. The transmission speed between two remote nodes is comparable to communication within a LAN.

Internationally operating network operators provide the infrastructure for MANs. Cities wired as Metropolitan Area Networks can be integrated supra-regionally in Wide Area Networks (WAN) and internationally in Global Area Networks (GAN).