When you stream a movie, send a text, or make a call, your data leaves your local network and travels into the wider internet. The part of the network that handles that jump is called backhaul.
People sometimes use “backhaul” and “middle mile” interchangeably. In networking, backhaul usually means the link between an access point, such as a cell tower or local exchange, and the provider’s core network, carrying traffic from the user edge into the core.
1. How the Internet Connects: Last Mile, Backhaul, and Backbone
Think of the internet as a road system with three main segments:
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Last mile
The path from your home computer or phone to your provider’s access point, such as a street cabinet, neighborhood node, or cell tower. It may use fiber, cable, DSL, or wireless[1]. -
Backhaul (also called middle mile)
The segment that moves data from local access points to the core of the provider’s network. It links your neighborhood infrastructure to larger aggregation sites, such as central offices, fiber hubs, or mobile switching centers[2]. -
Backbone
High-capacity networks that carry data across long distances and between regions or countries. These include national fiber routes, undersea cables, and major interconnection points that link continents and large metropolitan areas[3].
As of 2025, there are over 600 undersea fiber-optic cables active or planned. They span roughly 1.4 million kilometres (enough to circle Earth over 35 times) and carry more than 95 percent of international data traffic.
2. Who operates these networks?
The internet is made up of many separate networks that connect to each other. They’re often grouped into three “tiers,” based on how much of the global network they control.
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Tier-1 providers
Large companies that own and operate their own worldwide backbone networks. They can reach every other network on the internet without paying for access, because they exchange traffic directly with other Tier-1 providers. Examples include Lumen, Tata Communications, and Telia. -
Tier-2 providers
Regional or national carriers that connect to the global internet through Tier-1 providers. They may exchange traffic with some networks for free, a practice called peering, or pay other networks for access, known as transit. Examples include Comcast and Deutsche Telekom. -
Tier-3 providers
Local internet service providers (ISPs) that connect homes and businesses. They depend on upstream networks, usually Tier-2 or Tier-1 providers, to reach the rest of the internet.
3. Wired vs. Wireless Backhaul Technologies
The type of connection a provider uses for backhaul affects speed, reliability, and cost.
Wired backhaul
Wired backhaul most often uses fiber-optic cable. Fiber carries very high data rates with low delay[4]. Signals in fiber travel at about two-thirds the speed of light, so latency grows slowly with distance[5]. Networks can also reroute around cuts quickly if they are built with protection paths.
The hard part is construction. Most cost and time come from civil works such as trenching, permits, and road or river crossings. Rural builds add long distances and difficult terrain.
Once fiber exists, operators choose how to use it. They can light their own strands, lease dark fiber, buy managed wavelengths, or purchase Ethernet backhaul with a service agreement[6].
Because of its capacity, latency, and reliability, fiber is the first choice where it is feasible. Where it is not, providers extend reach by pairing limited fiber with wireless links to more remote sites.
Wireless backhaul
Wireless backhaul carries data using radio signals instead of cables. There are three main approaches:
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Microwave links
Dish antennas connect towers or local sites over a few to tens of kilometres, delivering 500 Mbps to several Gbps. They are cheaper and faster to deploy than fiber but can be degraded by heavy rain or snow. -
Satellite links
Used where ground-based options don’t reach.-
Geostationary (GEO)
Orbit roughly 36,000 km above Earth. Offers wide coverage, but latency is high: around 500–700 ms round-trip. Speeds range from a few Mbps to over 100 Mbps. -
Low Earth Orbit (LEO)
Fly at 500 to 2,000 km altitude. Latency drops to 20–50 ms, and speeds climb to hundreds of Mbps[7]. Coverage improves as constellations grow.
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Stratospheric platforms (HAPS / World Mobile’s solution)
Flying vehicles stationed in the stratosphere (~20 km altitude). World Mobile’s hydrogen-powered platform carries a phased-array antenna covering up to 15,000 km².
Combining technologies
Networks rarely rely on a single backhaul type. They often blend fiber, microwave, satellite, or stratospheric links to match local conditions.
For example, an ISP might run fiber to a town center, use microwave to connect nearby rural towers, and link the most remote sites with LEO satellites platforms. This layered approach balances cost, speed, and coverage while improving resilience if one link type goes down.
4. Internet Exchange Points and Middle-Mile Hubs
When your data leaves your local network, it may travel to an internet exchange point (IXP), a neutral facility, usually inside a data center, where networks connect and pass traffic directly instead of paying a transit provider[8].
What are IXPs?
IXPs are physical hubs where different networks meet to exchange traffic directly. They act like major crossroads for the internet, letting ISPs, cloud platforms, and content providers hand off data efficiently.
The backhaul network carries traffic to these points. The faster and more direct this path is, the better your connection will perform. If it’s slow, indirect, or congested, performance suffers even if your home connection is fast.
Globally, there are more than 800 active IXPs, but most are concentrated in North America and Europe. Many countries in Africa, parts of Asia, and Latin America have only one or two, or none at all. This uneven distribution means users in some regions enjoy fast, local traffic exchange, while others must send data across continents to reach an exchange.
How IXPs and the middle mile can bottleneck
Backhaul problems can limit performance in several ways:
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Congestion
When traffic exceeds a link’s capacity, data queues up, especially during peak hours. -
Breaks and outages
A single cut in a middle-mile fiber can take thousands of users offline until repairs are made. -
Inefficient routing
Poorly planned paths can send data on long detours, adding unnecessary delay. -
Middle-mile gap
In some regions, especially in developing countries, there is no nearby IXP. The shortage of local exchange capacity remains a major barrier to affordable, high-quality internet.
5. Backhaul in Developing Regions: The Connectivity Gap
In many parts of the world, building backhaul is a major barrier to internet access.
Cities in Europe or the U.S. often enjoy dense fiber networks and multiple IXPs. In contrast, many underserved regions may rely on only one or two high-capacity routes to connect, funnelling a nation’s internet through a single narrow pipe.
Many regions still lack local IXPs. Without one, data often travels hundreds or thousands of kilometres to reach an exchange, adding delay and cost. This “middle-mile gap” slows service even where home connections are fast.
This gap limits digital inclusion. Without robust middle-mile infrastructure, service is expensive, slow, or simply unavailable.
Progress on backhaul and middle-mile:
- Submarine cables like EASSy link East and Southern Africa and have been upgraded to support system capacity in the tens of terabits per second.
- The Central African Backbone is rolling out terrestrial fiber corridors across ECCAS countries to extend reach and lower wholesale prices.
- The World Bank and African Union are funding cross-border fiber to create more resilient and affordable middle-mile networks.
Despite challenges, private, public, and community initiatives are expanding backhaul step by step, bringing more reliable and affordable connectivity to underserved regions.
6. Satellites as an alternative backhaul option
Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite networks such as Starlink and OneWeb orbit between 500 km and 2,000 km above Earth, much closer than traditional geostationary satellites at 36,000 km. The shorter distance reduces latency from roughly 600 milliseconds to 20–50 milliseconds and supports speeds in the hundreds of megabits per second.
This performance makes LEO a viable option for backhaul where fiber or microwave links are too slow, costly, or difficult to deploy. However, equipment and subscription costs remain high for smaller operators, capacity is shared among users in each coverage cell, and line-of-sight or weather can affect reliability.
Recent deployments:
- Nigeria – In 2024, Africa Mobile Networks connected over 100 rural towers using Starlink. Within weeks, data usage in those villages rose by 45 percent.
- United Kingdom – Virgin Media O2 trialled LEO backhaul to connect mobile sites where fiber rollout was not viable.
- Kenya – The Karibu Connect project deployed solar-powered Starlink receivers as community Wi-Fi hubs. Each hub covers about a 1 km radius and can deliver over 400 Mbps in good conditions.
Satellites will never match fiber for cost or capacity, but they do one thing fiber can’t: they erase the limits of distance.
7. What 
World Mobile Is Doing
World Mobile is developing hybrid backhaul models that combine ground, air, and sky-based links to serve remote and rural areas more affordably.
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TV white space backbone
In Kenya and Mozambique, World Mobile has used unused TV frequencies (TV white space) to deliver mobile service over long distances in rural terrain. -
Aerostat balloon trials
In late 2023, World Mobile partnered with Vodacom Mozambique to deploy a tethered aerostat, a telecom-equipped helium balloon, over a rural area near Massingir. Flying at around 300 meters, it can beam 3G and 4G coverage up to a 130 km radius. Vodacom supplies licensed spectrum and local operations, while World Mobile provides the hardware and network architecture. -
Stratospheric platform (high-altitude aircraft)
orld Mobile is building a hydrogen-powered high-altitude platform that operates in the stratosphere (~20 km). Using phased-array antennas, it can deliver high-bandwidth, low-latency 5G over up to 15,000 km². Unlike LEO satellites, it integrates with standard mobile phones, no dishes or special receivers, and offers faster response times by avoiding satellite hops.
These layered solutions create flexible, cost-effective backhaul that can be tailored to each environment, opening connectivity options where conventional infrastructure is impractical or too expensive to deploy.
Conclusion
Backhaul is the link that turns a local signal into a global connection. When it’s strong and affordable, everything else follows: faster speeds, lower costs, better service, and broader access.
Typical last-mile speeds by technology: fiber 1–10 Gbps; cable 100 Mbps–1 Gbps; DSL 5–100 Mbps; fixed wireless 25–250 Mbps. Speeds vary by distance, and signal quality. ↩︎
Backhaul capacity varies widely: fiber backhaul links can exceed 100 Gbps; high-capacity microwave links typically range from 1–10 Gbps; satellite backhaul depends on orbit type, with low-Earth orbit often 50–250 Mbps per link. ↩︎
Individual backbone links often run at 100–400 Gbps or more. ↩︎
Dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) sends many light channels through one fiber pair. Common systems deliver 100–400 Gbps per channel, adding up to multiple terabits per second. ↩︎
A 100 km span adds roughly 0.5 ms one way. ↩︎
Lighting your own fiber gives control and scale but needs equipment and expertise. Dark fiber leases shift the digging cost to someone else while keeping control of optics. Managed wavelengths and Ethernet services turn the optical layer into a subscription for faster turn-up and predictable monthly costs. ↩︎
Networks like Starlink often deliver 50–250 Mbps and under 40 ms latency in good conditions. ↩︎
An IXP is built around high-capacity switches and route servers. ISPs, cloud platforms, and content networks peer there to keep traffic local, reduce cost, and lower latency. ↩︎