One embodiment of the invention pertains to a method for allocating bandwidth in a communications network, characterized in that it comprises steps for: a) determining a subset of elementary networks from a set of possible elementary networks in a communications network, the elementary networks of the subset each being capable of simultaneously implementing a elementary network encoding scheme; b) determining at least one critical destination node in the communications network; c) allocating at least one bandwidth portion released by an application of the elementary network encoding scheme in at least one elementary network of the subset, for a transmission of at least one additional data unit to the at least one critical destination node.