MINNEAPOLIS, April 4 -- Optical Solutions Inc. has been awarded a contract from Nex-Tech to overbuild the Northwestern Kansas town of Osborne with a direct fiber connection that will extend to hundreds of homes and small businesses. Nex-Tech will deploy Optical Solution's FiberPath 400 system, which is capable of delivering high-speed Internet access, hundreds of analog and digital television channels and multiple phone lines to each subscriber. HunTel Engineering, of Blair, Neb., is overseeing the deployment. Nex-Tech, a competitive local exchange carrier and a wholly owned subsidiary of Lenora, Kan.-based Rural Telephone Service Co., will operate the new fiber network.