Provided are an Optical Network Unit (ONU) for low latency packet transmission in a Time Division Multiplexing-Passive Optical Network (TDM-PON), a method of operating the ONU, and an apparatus for controlling the ONU. The method includes: receiving, from a base station, first bandwidth allocation information regarding a bandwidth allocated by the base station to a terminal for uplink packet transmission; and transmitting a bandwidth allocation request, which is based on the received first bandwidth allocation information, to an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) before completing packet reception from the base station.