A METHOD FOR REDUCING SPLICE LOSS BETWEEN DISSIMILAR OPTICAL FIBERS IS PRESENTED. THE FIBERS ARE FIRST SPLICED BY USING A STANDARD FUSION SPLICING PROCEDURE, AND THEN THE FIBER WITH THE GREATER CORE IS TAPERED BEFORE THE SPLICE POINT, WHILE THE FIBER WITH THE SMALLER CORE IS FATTENED. BY USING THIS TECHNIQUE WE HAVE CONSISTENTLY OBTAINED SPLICE LOSS VALUES OF 0.13 DB BETWEEN A DS/SMF AND AN SMF28 FIBER, AND 0.09 DB BETWEEN A 980HP FIBER AND AN SMF28 FIBER.A method for reducing splice loss between dissimilar optical fibers is presented. The fibers are first spliced by using a standard fusion splicing procedure, and then the fiber with the greater core is tapered before the splice point, while the fiber with the smaller core is fattened. By using this technique we have consistently obtained splice loss values of 0.13 dB between a DS/SMF and an SMF28 fiber, and 0.09 dB between a 980HP fiber and an SMF28 fiber.