Abstract: In an embodiment, an access network (AN) receives a request to allocate a given data channel (e.g., a traffic channel (TCH), Quality-of-Service, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, etc.) to a given wireless communication device (e.g., a call originator, a call target, etc.). The AN determines whether the given data channel is available for allocation to the wireless communication device. If the AN determines the given data channel not to be available for allocation to the wireless communication device, the AN determines a priority score to be associated with the received request. The AN initiates one of a plurality of data channel acquisition procedures (e.g., a preemption procedure, a queuing procedure, etc.) if the determined priority score is above at least one priority score threshold, each of the plurality of data channel acquisition procedures configured to obtain the given data channel in order to service the received request.