As an important application of laser technology, optical fiber communications are key enablers for the current information age. With the emergence of new technologies including Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence, there are growing needs in the society for high capacity information transmission, which puts forward higher requirements for the optical fiber communication technology. Based on a systematic review of the development status of the technology in China and abroad, this paper analyzes the problems and challenges it faces in the application of specific scenarios, and prospects the development of some related technologies in the future. Through analysis, the challenges in optical fiber communication systems with an ultra-large capacity can be solved by increasing the transmitted power, raising the bandwidth of optical amplifiers, and conducting research on low-loss optical fibers and technologies related to space division multiplexing. The cost problems of the systems in other scenarios are also considered. In general, the optical fiber communication technology is evolving toward the direction of ultra-large capacity, intelligence, and integration. It is hoped to realize intelligent monitoring of network parameters, as well as ultra-long distance and ultra-large capacity transmission. With the development of devices and integration technology, the optical fiber communication industry continues to move forward toward the goal of high performance and low cost.