Abstract: A switching element includes a plurality of input ports and at least one output port, a spacial switching mechanism, and a cell memory in which cells are stored, the cells being classifiable according to at least one given characteristic. It is characterized in that the transmission element includes means to access the cells contained in the cell memory selectively according to the characteristic, a probability memory associating a probability p.sub.i with each possible value i of the characteristic, and a server which chooses the cell to be transmitted from among those contained in the cell memory according to the probabilities (p.sub.i) contained in the probability memory and the presence or absence of a cell in the cell memory for each value (i) of the characteristic.