The second observation was acceptable in monolithic networks because it treated all call attempts equally. In broadband multiservice networks, these observations no longer apply. Customer traffic is no longer well defined. Its bandwidth varies over an immense range, and different customers have different priorities and needs. Also, the network provider must maximize the return on investment.
Customers pay different rates according to applications and buying power.
An optimum solution would supply an acceptable grade of service and optimize the provider's facilities. The authors use several concepts from game theory. They employ a set of game axioms to provide the requisite fairness. As these axioms somewhat resemble the actions of an arbitrator, a parallel exists between the axiom set and a rational network control mechanism. After an opaque description of various game-theoretic axioms, they employ a simplified Markov model they covered in earlier papers.