Abstract: A method for protecting the flows of traffic against, and for restoring them from, a failure in a multifunctional, hybrid broadband access-and-transport network system includes the provisioning of at least two Virtual Flows (“VFs”) of traffic between each pair of ingress and egress (“I/E”) nodes in the system. The at least two VFs are provisioned such that each takes a different physical path from the other. The VFs taking the same physical path are then respectively grouped into two “Path Protection Groups” (“PPGs”). Each of the PPGs has a dedicated “Management Control Flow” (“MCF”) provisioned within it that is carried in the at least one VF contained therein. The detection of a fault in the traffic in an “active” PPG results in the generation of a protection switching signal (“PSS”) being generated and sent by the nodes detecting the fault along the MCF of the affected PPG to the relevant “protection switching entities” (“PSEs”), i.e.