HAMILTON — The first leg of Butler County's high-speed fiber-optics network, the centerpiece of the county's plan to recruit businesses, has been completed.

        The first segment runs from Cincinnati Bell's Evendale facility, through Hamilton, to Miami University's Oxford campus.

        Miami has begun hooking up equipment and testing the fiber-optics system. Tom Walsh, the university's manager of telecommunications, said he expects the system will be providing full voice and data services to the Oxford and Hamilton campuses in two weeks.

        The Hamilton campus has been hampered by a limited, slower-speed Internet access, he said.

        The fiber-optics connection is expected to provide a high-quality, high-speed transmission of voice, video and data, Mr. Walsh said.

        “If you're accessing graphics or trying to share a large file on the Internet, it's very slow at the Hamilton campus,” he said. “But now the faculty, staff and students at Hamilton will have the same services available to them that we have here in Oxford.”

        The rest of the network, which will run more than 100 miles, will be completed by July, said Dennis Nichols, the county commissioners' administrative assistant who is managing the project.

        Cincinnati Bell, which is installing the $10 million system for NORMAP Inc., has begun laying cable for the segments from West Chester Township to Middletown, from Middletown to Oxford and along Ohio 4 from Hamilton to Middletown.

        “Everything is on schedule and on budget,” Mr. Nichols said.

        The network also initially will serve government offices, businesses and schools. The county is exploring ways to give residents access to the system.

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