SummaryIn this paper, we study the optimal scheduling problem in coordinated multipoint (CoMP) transmission-based cellular networks. We consider joint transmission and coordinated scheduling together in CoMP transmission-based cellular networks and develop an optimization framework to compute the optimal max-min throughput and the optimal scheduling of the transmissions to the users. The optimization problem is found to be a complex linear program with number of variables in (N K ) for a cellular network of N users and K cells.We solve the optimization problem for several network instances using an optimization tool. The numerical results show that the optimal CoMP transmission provides a significant throughput gain over a traditional transmission. We find that in optimal scheduling the fraction time of coordinated scheduling is higher than that of joint transmission. To solve the optimization problem without any optimization tool, we propose a heuristic algorithm. The performance of the heuristic algorithm is evaluated and found to be provided throughput around 97% of the optimal throughput. Further, we extend the optimization framework to study joint scheduling and power allocation (JSPA) problem in CoMP transmission-based cellular networks. We numerically solve the JSPA problem for the network instances and demonstrate that the optimal power allocation at the base stations is not binary for a significant fraction of time of scheduling.However, the gain in max-min throughput by the optimal JSPA technique over the optimal scheduling technique is not significant.