The invention relates to a method for compensating signal dispersion in an optical communication network and to an optical communication network. The dispersion compensation is carried out by constructing the network in such a way that a route having an even number of phase conjugating means can be found between any two nodes. The routing is primarily made along a route in which there is the minimum even number of phase conjugating means between the terminal nodes. A preferred embodiment of the invention is a ring network constructed of two concentric rings in such a way that both rings comprise the same node points, but the number of phase conjugating means to be installed in said rings, in the optical fibers between adjacent nodes is, for example, even in the outer ring and odd in the inner ring.