An optical fiber is formed for use in optical communications systems capable of transmitting and receiving a large volume of information. The optical fiber has a chromatic dispersion of at least 4 ps/nm/km and at most 15 ps/nm/km at a wavelength of 1,550 nm, a transmission loss of at most 0.190 dB/km at a wavelength of 1,530 to 1,570 nm, and an effective cutoff wavelength measured by the 2-meter method of 1610 nm or more. An optical transmission line and an optical communications system are structured by using the foregoing optical fiber.