WOW! Business winning fiber-based mobile backhaul deals in Chicago

WOW! Business says it is racking up deals with "multiple wireless operators" to provide fiber-based mobile backhaul services for more than 500 cell towers in metro Chicago. To support the contracts, WOW! Wholesale, a unit of WOW! Business, will build more than 50 contiguous fiber rings connecting the cell tower base stations to mobile switching centers.

The service provider expects the first sites to be operational in the fourth quarter of this year, with project completion slated for 2017.

"Consumer hunger for new media-rich mobile communications, coupled with the dynamic explosion of voice, data and video traffic, is driving wireless carriers to increase bandwidth at their cell sites," said Brad Cheedle, senior vice president of WOW! Business.

WOW! Business is a unit of WOW!, a cable MSO that has served Chicago since 1999. The business unit offers fiber backhaul and other wholesale services. WOW! says it owns and operates more than 42,000 miles of local fiber-optic and coaxial networks in 19 U.S. markets, as well as numerous data centers that provide customers with scalable, low-latency access to national carrier backbones.

"Fiber provides wireless carriers with a simple, high-capacity backhaul infrastructure and an extremely reliable and cost-effective way to move traffic from their cell sites to the broader voice, data, and video networks," explained Jim Greene, senior director of WOW! Wholesale.

For more information on high-speed transmission systems and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer’s Guide.