An apparatus includes a receiver configured to receive a signal that has traveled an optical transmission line without returning output from an optical transmitting device and synchronize with the optical transmitting device in order to demodulate the signal; a dispersion compensator configured to compensate for wavelength dispersion caused by transmission of the signal; an acquisition circuit configured to acquire a transmitting timing at which the signal has been transmitted from the optical transmitting device; a calculation circuit configured to calculate a transmission time period from the optical transmitting device to the receiver from the transmitting timing and a receiving timing at which the signal has been received with the receiver; and an amount setting circuit configured to adjust a dispersion compensation amount of the dispersion compensator in accordance with the transmission time period.