China cracks down on internet cafes

Nearly all of China's 110,000 internet cafes will be consolidated under the management of larger mainly state-owned companies in the next three years, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

The move aims to "regulate and standardise" the "fledgling and troublesome" café business, said the report.

The government is concerned about the sudden popularity of such cafés, which are gathering places for online gamers and those seeking web information outside of official sources, in a country where many still cannot afford PCs or internet access.

"The spread of illegal content among internet cafés and their poor operating conditions have been a major problem in China's internet industry," according to an earlier Xinhua report.

A fire set by an arsonist in June last year killed 25 in an unlicensed internet café. The resulting crackdown on unlicensed premises has halved the number of outlets in the country. Since then, the China government has also stopped issuing new licenses.

Ministry of Culture official Liu Yuzhu made the announcement to consolidate control of the cafés last week. Under the scheme, nearly all cafés will be placed under the management of about 100 larger firms.

Companies said to be getting into the business are mainly state-owned, and include telcoms providers such as China Unicom, Great Wall Broadband Network and China Netcom.