Abstract : In a quantum approach to electronic transport in semiconductor superlattices, the resolvent method is used to derive scattering terms depending on the initial state of the system, as in hopping transport theory. The effective source of transport is, however, quantum coherence, balanced by population and correlation relaxation. Although quite basic, the model is in agreement with the commonly accepted field dependences of the electronic velocity, both experimentally and theoretically, both for intra- and interminiband conduction. More generally, this description of electronic conduction applies to semiconductor heterostructures, and fully relies upon quantum coherence to overcome localization induced by built-in potential barriers and the external electric field.