In this paper the linewidth of widely tunable SG-DBR lasers has been investigated theoretically and experimentally. We demonstrate experimentally the importance of obtaining low linewidth operation for the application of SG-DBR laser with advanced modulation format transmission. This is achieved by choosing two sets of tuning currents for an SG-DBR laser that give the same wavelength channel and good SMSR, but different linewidths. When the laser is employed in a DPSK system only the operating point (the set of drive currents used to obtain specific output characteristics) that portrays low linewidth achieves error free transmission. This work shows that although calibration of tunable lasers is normally based on achieving sufficient SMSR and output power, it will be important to consider the linewidth parameter as these lasers begin to be used in more spectrally efficient WDM systems employing advanced modulation formats. The simulation results illustrate that the operating points which achieve narrow linewidth are correlated with those that exhibit low threshold current. This finding may be used for calibration of SG-DBR lasers to achieve minimum linewidth at each operating wavelength. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.