Provided is an automatic optical power control method for an optical line terminal (OLT) of a passive optical network (PON). The automatic optical power control method includes at the OLT, measuring an allowable range of the optical power allowing a normal network operation on the PON, at the OLT, setting an optimum optical signal level within the measured allowable range of the optical power, and at the OLT, adjusting a power level of a transmitter to the set optimum optical signal level. Accordingly, an appropriate power level can be selected depending on an optical distribution network (ODN) structure to drive the transmitter. Also, when the entire optical network units are deactivated, a laser of the transmitter is turned off to thereby minimize unnecessary power consumption at the OLT.