A small cell base station and method are disclosed for directing packets for the conversion of an internet protocol backhaul communications link into an RF transmit and simultaneously an RF receive signal into an internet protocol backhaul communications link between different air interface technologies. Packets are directed between licensed and unlicensed spectrum according to criteria that are implemented in algorithms running on electronic processors. The small cell base station includes a licensed spectrum baseband module that exchanges packets with the IP backhaul network, and an unlicensed spectrum baseband module that exchanges packets with the licensed spectrum baseband module but not with the IP backhaul network.