An example method is provided in one example embodiment and may determining, by a first communication device, whether one or more other communication devices are communicating wireless signals in a particular channel of an unlicensed band of the communication network; scheduling one or more Long Term Evolution Unlicensed (LTE-U) sub-frames within a frame schedule for a user equipment (UE) based, at least in part, on determining that one or more communication devices are communicating wireless signals in the particular channel; and communicating the one or more LTE-U sub-frames to the UE according to the frame schedule.