Does it count as removing it though? From the docs it looked like they just scaled it out so there's a timer wheel process on each scheduler, and it looks as though the 'common caveats' page still lists using send_after/start_timer instead. I don't know enough about the internal workings of timers vs send_after/start_timer to say for sure though.
The 'timer' module is not the timer wheel in the BEAM VM. The 'timer' module is a slow, old, module which works really well for small developments, but fails in the large scale.
The common caveat against its use still holds. The timer wheel is part of the VM and is not directly accessible by Erlang programs. Only through indirect use via a number of constructs/functions manipulating timers.
At any rate, these changes are very welcome.