An optical fiber transmission line composed of a plurality of segments each having a length falling within a predetermined range is provided. An optical transmitter for supplying an optical signal to the transmission line is provided at one end of the transmission line. An optical receiver for receiving the optical signal from the transmission line is provided at the other end of the transmission line. An optical amplifier is provided between any two adjacent ones of the segments. A dispersion compensator is provided in association with each of the optical transmitter, the optical receiver, and the optical amplifier. The dispersion compensator provides a dispersion selected from a plurality of stepwise varying dispersions determined according to the predetermined range.