In this paper, we have newly developed an InGaAs metamorphic buffer on a GaAs substrate grown by metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy, and realized a fully relaxed quasi-InGaAs substrate with low threading dislocation density. We have also successfully developed a 1.3-mu m-range ridge waveguide laser with InGaP upper cladding and InAlGaAs lower cladding layers. This laser has achieved the highest continuous-wave operating temperature (173degC) reported for a metamorphic laser. We measured the relaxation oscillation frequency from the relative intensity noise and undertook a 10-Gb/s direct modulation experiment.