diff --git a/internal/bbsim/devices/olt.go b/internal/bbsim/devices/olt.go
index a556256..734070d 100644
--- a/internal/bbsim/devices/olt.go
+++ b/internal/bbsim/devices/olt.go
@@ -501,7 +501,9 @@
 			}
 			// when the enableContext was canceled the ONUs stopped listening on the channel
 			for _, onu := range pon.Onus {
-				onu.ReDiscoverOnu(true)
+				if o.ControlledActivation != OnlyONU {
+					onu.ReDiscoverOnu(true)
+				}
 				go onu.ProcessOnuMessages(o.enableContext, stream, nil)
 
 				// update the stream on all the services