Disclosed is a system, apparatus, computer readable storage medium, and method to perform a bandwidth efficient network based positioning (NBP). A positioning request for a mobile device is received within an environment, the environment comprising one or more access points (APs). An AP coverage area including the mobile device is determined. A NBP load for the AP is measured, wherein the NBP load comprises a direct NBP load and an indirect NBP load. If the NBP load is less than a threshold, the AP is instructed to process the first positioning request. Multiple APs may process positioning requests concurrently and positioning requests may be scheduled according to timeout and/or relative expiration.