METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING QUALITY OF SERVICE GUARANTEES USING STATEFUL MONITORING OF NETWORK LOAD

An approach is provided for supporting monitoring of network load. An allocation state is determined based on a bandwidth allocation value, a group load, and a guaranteed portion of capacity of a communication channel. The bandwidth allocation value specifies an actual amount of capacity of the communication channel allocated to one of a plurality of groups of terminals. The group load indicates loads of the terminals belonging to the one group. Capacity of the communication channel is assigned according to the determined allocation state. This arrangement has particular applicability to a satellite network that provides data communication services.