This paper proposes a data transfer rate control approach to ensure a prescribed delay in the time critical communication channels of the networked teleoperation systems. The proposed method assumes an active queue management mechanism in the communication link between the master and slave side of the teleoperation system. To handle the nonlinearities in the system model and the extraneous data flow rates in the same communication medium a nonlinear PI control law is designed which controls the video transfer rate from the master side to the slave side of the teleoperation system. The parameters of the control algorithm were determined by applying the State Dependent Riccati Equation approach. Using steady state analysis the maximum rate of the disturbance traffic which can be compensated by control is determined. Simulation measurements were performed to show that the proposed control approach can assure the prescribed delay in the presence of different type of data traffic.