This paper addresses the flow control design of a connection-oriented communication network from the robust control theory perspective. Network is modelled as a n th order discrete system whose first order model is obtained using the two-time scale property associated with the process. The proposed scheme is characterised by an equivalent control based discrete sliding mode design for the first order model which is applied to n th order systems through aggregation. Besides its design simplicity, the proposed method exhibits finite time convergence property for the states while applied to the full order system emulating the characteristics of terminal sliding mode in a certain way. Simulation results via Matlab and ns-2 validate the efficacy of the proposed algorithm as an effective flow controller for connection-oriented networks. © 2014 The Franklin Institute. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.