Abstract: A packet switching system has both speech and data transmitted as packets over virtual connections set-up in a digital network. The speech and data packets are transmitted at the bit rate of the transmission medium. The speech packets, which have to be handled in real-time, are given priority over the data packets, which are relatively long. Because the speech packets may be subjected to unacceptable delay if the medium is busy with a data packet when a speech packet is to be sent, the system provides that, if a speech packet arrives when a data packet is partly sent, the sending of the data packet is interrupted, the speech packet is sent, and the residue of the data packet is sent when the transmission medium is free of speech. This residue is provided with a new header and handled as if it is a new data packet.