Since the Bird's Nest has a special structure, the service team of China Netcom divided the field engineers and maintenance engineers into six groups to take charge of the management work and do inspections in different areas so that the ordinary telephone lines and Internet broadband could be linked to the stadium and failures in IC telephones and public telephones could be resolved as soon as possible.

China Netcom staff test lines carefully at the stadium before events begin. [China Daily]

With the coming of the opening ceremony, the groups in charge of the terminal units became busier. There were still requirements from customers for the installation of ADSL, relocation and installation of telephones. So these groups had to go separately to do the work. They were able to meet the requirements of the customers within half an hour.

At 5 pm on August 8, with the opening ceremony to be held three hours later, the working team of China Netcom received the requirement of the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee for emergency reinforcement: the cable should be extended by 40 m in hidden form to meet the requirement of a TV station for an on-site broadcast.

Wang Chenlong, engineer of China Netcom, was appointed to take charge of the task. For such a work, at least two hours would be needed. Yet the audience had already taken their seats. It was a great challenge to make the cable pass through five huge steel columns under such conditions. However, in order to ensure the success of the opening ceremony, three engineers raced against time and the conditions and finally finished the task 45 minutes before the start of the opening ceremony.

The engineers stayed on high platforms and photography pits in six places to supervise the operation of the telephone lines to provide best services for the world top five news agencies. The engineers in charge crouched under tables to test more than one thousand of boxes used in the media area, though they suffered in the hot weather.

The journalists' zone on the first floor of the stand and the commentary box on the second floor of the stand are two important areas where the telecommunication work should be given high attention to. Many private lines were laid there, and a large number of 201 telephones and ADSL connections were installed. In addition, 16 engineers were sent to the area with a great number of multiple services to provide technical supports on telecommunication for the media from different countries.

On August 8, the time came at 8 pm and the opening ceremony was broadcast to every corner of the world. Even at that time, China Netcom engineers didn't relax their attention to services.

Half an hour later after the start of the opening ceremony, the working team of China Netcom received the second requirement for another installation of ADSL in the commentary box.

Xiao Jianwei, engineer working at the terminal, was appointed to take charge of the task. He ran three times between the first and the second floors to consult with the customers and the members of the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee and finally finished the installation in 28 minutes. At the same time, about 100 journalists near Cui Yanyan, the broadband smart card field engineer, were using the broadband services.

"It was predicted that nearly 1,000 journalists used the broadband services. We were confident, since the field engineers continued to inspect the site no matter how hot it was," Cui said.

The opening ceremony went on smoothly. Ten minutes before the end, when the engineers in charge of the high-speed broadband services making preparations for the broadcast at peak time for lighting the flame, they received the report from 57 fireworks points, indicating that "everything is going well". At 12 midnight, the Olympic flame was lit.

According to reports, the peak time of the use of the broadband smart card appeared at around 1 am on August 9, when a large number of journalists used the broadband from China Netcom. It was spectacular. At 2:30 am, most of the journalists went to the MPC to participate in the press conference, while some other journalists stayed in the stadium to distribute new dispatches.

The last group of journalists left the stadium half an hour later. China Netcom fulfilled its mission and passed the tests by providing prefect services for 37 domestic and international broadcasters, thousands of journalists and 57 firework points.

The achievement of zero-obstacle enabled China Netcom to win a high praise of the officials from the Communication Department of the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee on the spot of the opening ceremony.

Team work [China Daily]

Source: The stories of this supplement are provided by the working team of China Netcom for guaranteeing the telecommunication services during the Beijing Games including Li Litao, Tang Liuming, Sui Jingli, Chang Qing, Ma Wei and Huang Hanbo

(China Daily August 15, 2008)