A cellular radio architecture that includes a programmable bandpass sampling radio frequency front-end and an optimized digital baseband. The architecture includes a multiplexer having signal paths that include a bandpass filter that passes a different frequency band than the other bandpass filters and a circulator that provides signal isolation between the transmit signals and the receive signals. The architecture also includes a receiver module having a separate signal channel for each of the signal paths in the multiplexer, where each signal channel in the receiver module includes a receiver delta-sigma modulator that converts analog receive signals to a representative digital signal. The architecture further includes a transmitter module having a transmitter delta-sigma modulator for converting digital data bits to analog transmit signals, where the transmitter module includes a power amplifier and a switch for directing the transmit signals to one of the signal paths in the multiplexer.