A radio access network comprises a base station controller and a plurality of
radio
base stations. The radio base stations connect to the base station controller in
a daisy chain configuration via a shared communication link. At least one radio
base station in the chain includes a priority queue for scheduling packets to be
transmitted via the shared communication link to an adjacent radio base station.
The priority queue schedules packets for transmission over the shared communication
link based on the location of the terminating radio base station for each packet
so that packets traversing more hops are given priority over packets traversing
fewer hops.