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With just over three weeks before the opening ceremonies of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Chinese telecoms players say they are all set to deliver the most bandwidth-hungry Olympics yet.

During the first panel session of the IEC's Broadband World Forum Asia, official Olympics telecoms partner China Netcom offered a quick glimpse of the telecom infrastructure it has put in place to support the Olympics.

China Netcom deputy chief engineer Ma Yian said the Olympics network - which has been under construction since 2005 and was completed earlier this year - sports 6,239 km of piping construction, 46,000 km of multicore fiber, 53 equipment rooms and a 550-seat call center, among other features.

Ma also said the network also supports HDTV, a VLAN offering 100-megabit connections in 31 competition venues, and video surveillance over IPv6.

Netcom is also providing around 20 Gbps of international bandwidth with the help of partners PCCW, AT&T, KDDI, DT, KT and Telefonica.

In Hong Kong, where the equestrian events will be held, PCCW Global is handling the network between the two venue locations at Beas River and Sha Tin, and the international gateway site that will route 40 channels of video to and from Beijing's International Broadcast Centre.

Henry Au-Yeung, VP of International Products at PCCW Global, said PCCW is providing two redundant primary SDH fiber rings between the two venues and the gateway.

The carrier is also providing international video services via its global IPLC/IP network covering over 80 countries, and satellite teleport with access to 18 satellites, he said.

Chinese players are also hoping to use the Olympics to showcase the latest advancements in IPTV.

Max Wang, VP of digital media and entertainment at Huawei Technologies, said his company's digital media center platform will be used to support features such as multi-scnreen broadcasting - not just multiple camera angles but also the ability to watch on TVs, PCs and mobile phones - as well as interactive screens, blogs and connecting with friends through the set-top box while watching the events on TV.