Wired Wireless: “Wireless Backhaul”

Ultimately, wires will be involved with your wireless devices. Bloomberg reports Time-Warner wants to provide some of them:

Time Warner Cable Inc., the biggest pay-television provider in New York City, is pitching phone companies including AT&T and Verizon Wireless on a service that uses its underground cables to carry mobile calls and Web downloads — easing the congestion spurred by data-hungry users of smartphones like the iPhone.

The service, known in the industry as wireless backhaul, has become Time Warner Cable’s fastest-growing business after revenue tripled last year, said Craig Collins, senior vice president of business services. Across the cable industry, sales from wireless carriers may reach about $3.6 billion in 2012, according to researcher GeoResults Inc.

The story goes on to say, without quoting any statistics, that iPhones use twice the capacity of other smartphone (I wonder how an iPhone compares to my Android) and that backhaul may ease congestion from one cell tower to another, but won’t help between a tower and the phones in our pockets.