A compact, low-cost combined transmitting/receiving optical communications module, which is suitable for use in a TCM system and which is capable of normal operation over a particularly wide temperature range in optical communications equipment, is provided. The optical transmitting/receiving section for this purpose has a laser diode which outputs a transmitted optical signal, a combined monitor/receiving photodiode which not only monitors the optical output signal from the laser diode during a transmitting period, but also receives the input optical signal from the transmission path during the receiving period, and an optical mixer/divider which performs transmitting/receiving mixing and dividing between the transmission path, the laser diode, and the photodiode. A drive section has a transmitting/receiving switching circuit which performs time-division transmitting/receiving switching and a threshold control circuit which performs successive control of the bias current of the laser diode so that the optical noise output monitored by the photodiode is maximized.