An approach is provided for providing quality of service reservations in a packet-based radio communication network is disclosed. Connection information including connection rate is extracted from a dataflow from an application requesting connection-oriented service. A request message is sent to a proxy for establishing a connection based on the connection information over the network, wherein the proxy configures a classification rule based on flow criteria from the request message and accordingly initiates establishment of the connection over the network to a destination terminal. A confirmation that the connection can be established is selectively received according to the connection information, wherein the dataflow satisfying the flow criteria from the application is transported over the established connection to the destination terminal. This approach as particular applicability to shared capacity systems, such as a satellite communication system.