We fabricated a series of glasses with the composition $94.7\text{-}\chi {\mathrm{GeO}}_2\text{-}5{\mathrm{Al}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3\text{-}0.3{\mathrm{Bi}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3\text{-}\chi \mathrm{PbO}$ $(\chi =0–24\mathrm{mol.}\%)$ . Characteristic absorption bands of bismuth centered at 500, 700, 800, and $1000\mathrm{nm}$ were observed. Adding $\mathrm{PbO}$ was found to decrease the strength of bismuth absorption. The addition of 3%–4% $\mathrm{PbO}$ resulted in a 50% increase in lifetime, a 20-fold increase in quantum efficiency, and a 28-fold increase in the product of emission cross section and lifetime on the 0% $\mathrm{PbO}$ composition. We propose that the $800\mathrm{nm}$ absorption band relates a different bismuth center than the other absorption bands.