The present invention relates to distributing the load between the set routes among a plurality of routes between a communication apparatus which serves as a start point to another communication apparatus which serves as an end point. An apparatus provided in a router in a network collects traffic characteristics of transmission paths connected to the router, notifies other routers of the collected traffic characteristics, calculates load based on the collected traffic characteristics, decides based on the calculated load information whether or not a transmission path should be added or deleted, and equalizes the load among the plurality of transmission paths.