The Beijing Olympics Call Center opened a hotline on Tuesday to offer information about the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

The hotline, which is reached by dialing 86-10-12308, only provides information about volunteers and the torch relay route at present.

People overseas who want to be volunteers can call the number to seek information, as the service is offered both in Chinese and English. The service will be available in more languages during the Games.

The recruiting of foreign volunteers started in March, according to call center staff.

More information related to the Olympics, such as detailed information of sports events, accommodation, medical care, travel and transportation will be available when they receive authorization from the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG), according to the call center.

The hotline can receive 1,050 incoming calls at the same time, according to the service provider, China Netcom, the country's second largest fixed-line operator.

The call center, which serves as an important communication channel for the Games, also opened a ticket hotline (952008) and an Olympic commodity hotline (800-810-0010), both in Chinese and English.

People can call the commodity hotline to find out information about Olympic goods, for instance, to find out whether the goods they have bought are authentic. However, people still have to go to franchise shops to buy the goods.

China Netcom also opened a communications bureau in Beijing Tuesday to provide fixed-line communication services exclusively for the 2008 Games.

The bureau will directly provide services including voice, data and wireless broadband to organizations such as the technological command center of the Organizing Committee, the Olympic Village, the International Broadcasting Center and the National Stadium, said Yang Yichun, head of the technology department of the BOCOG.

China Netcom has launched a communication network for the Olympic venues and will connect 19 of them with high-speed communication services, Yang said.

The bureau will start its work by offering services to the forthcoming pre-Olympic "Good Luck Beijing" test events in August and September, said Zhao Jidong, senior vice president of China Netcom.

(Xinhua News Agency August 8, 2007)