A communication system serving a number of nodes, each associated with a group of subscriber terminals, comprises a unidirectional bus bent into a loop to form a transmitting branch and a receiving branch respectively connected by an outgoing coupler and an incoming coupler to all the terminals of a given node. In each node a plurality of detectors on opposite sides of the outgoing coupler monitor the activity of the transmitting branch to determine whether the bus is free from any signal carrier originating at an upstream node, or generated at the node considered, and is thus available for voice or data packets to be sent out. Each terminal includes a receiving unit, responsive to a pre-engagement packet addressed thereto via the incoming coupler, which starts a local time base to establish a succession of frames encompassing each a number of time slots allocated to active speech channels in a voice period of a frame; the remainder of each frame is available for data transmission. The number of time slots constituting the voice period is variable; a memory forming part of a control section including the time base stores information on the state of activity of each time slot.