A method (100) of operation in a passive optical network system (600) includes transmitting wave division multiplexed data in a downstream link (617) of an optical distribution network (618) using a plurality of optical line terminals (601,602,603). Each optical line terminal (601,602,603) operates at a unique wavelength, and is synchronized to each other optical line terminal by a common reference (643). Upstream data is received from an upstream link (619) of the optical distribution network on a shared common upstream wavelength (620).