Given the problems AT&T's network has had in major urban areas like New York City (thanks in large part to Apple's iPhone), should the carrier take local cable companies up on their offers to wirelessly backhaul cellular traffic through their network of underground cables?

As BusinessWeek points out, the rapid growth of data-hungry smartphones has proved to be a boon to cable carriers like Time Warner Cable. In fact, the process of backhauling, or transferring cellular signals from an antenna and rerouting them through a wired network, has become its biggest growing business after revenue tripled last year. For this reason, pitching the service to carriers like AT&T and Verizon Wireless have become a top priority.

Craig Collins, senior VP of Time Warner Cable's business services, explains:

Backhaul is a growth play that we are pursuing aggressively. These mobile players want to get the bandwidth they need at a cost-effective price and our structure allows them to get that pretty seamlessly.

Depending on the city, backhaul leasing prices can range from a few hundred dollars to more than $1,000 per month for each cell tower -- far cheaper than it would cost to increase the size of the network itself.

Truth be told, AT&T might already be a TWC customer -- but if it is, nobody is saying for sure. Regardless, cost-effective solutions from major cable providers like Time Warner Cable seem like a no-brainer for cellular carriers struggling to keep up with demand.