Abstract: A communication system (and corresponding method of operation) provides a physical-line-based and transparent information transfer facility to distributed information receivers, whilst supporting such transfer for both first packaged data derived from sampling a real-time signal such as a telephone signal and second packaged data originating from a broadband digital data service. Respective actual transfer requirements are ascertained for the first and second packaged data. Next, transferring of the first packaged data is temporally positioned in first time slots that maintain real-time transferring of the first packaged data relative to the real-time signal. Finally, second packaged data are temporally positioned in intermediate intervals between successive first time slots, whilst transferring both the first and second packaged data items along the physical line in a deterministic manner within a single channel facility whilst foregoing encapsulation thereof in an overall frame.