Spain's King Juan Carlos I on Wednesday morning pushed a button at the network control center of China Netcom in Beijing and officially launched a Spanish language call center for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

 

The call center, which is still not open to the public yet, is a joint project of China Netcom and Spain-based telecom operator Telefonica aimed at giving visitors from Spanish-speaking countries information on transport, weather as well as the reservation of tickets and hotels.

 

Using the two-way audio and video system of the call center, Telefonica President Cesar Alierta had a brief chat with his employees in Madrid.

 

Through dialing a specific number, which is not announced yet, Spanish-speaking visitors in China can be connected to operators in Spain whose computer system has been equipped with database of information about Beijing as well as the Olympic Games.

 

As the Beijing Olympics draw near, more foreign language call centers will be launched, an official with China Netcom said.

 

China Netcom and Telefonica set up strategic cooperation partnership in 2005. Telefonica, the third largest telecom operator in the world, has a five-percent stake in China Netcom, which it plans to increase to 9.9 percent.

 

"Mutually beneficial cooperation between businesses of the two countries is of vital importance to cementing Spain-China all-round strategic partnership," King Juan Carlos I said.

 

Invited by Chinese President Hu Jintao, the king started his six-day state visit to China on Sunday.

 

(Xinhua News Agency June 28, 2007)