Guangdong Province will temporarily suspend the issuance of new Internet Service Provider operation licenses.

According to local media, this is the most stringent measure that has been taken to date regarding the website registration and audit work of the Ministry of Information industry across the country. Besides Guangdong, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Hebei will also take the measure of suspending ISP license issuance very soon.

China's Ministry of Information Industry has been enhancing its management on websites with particular attention on the value-added service providers. In the meantime, it has also enlarged the crackdown on the Internet access market.

MII requires all Internet service providers to hold an ISP or IDC operation license and set up a service management system, registration information database and registration management system before they provide and sell Internet services. MII says Internet service providers who fail to do accordingly shall not enjoy the services provided by telecom operators and face closure.