China's Ministry of Culture made an announcement on Monday saying that it will make the approval process for cybercafés easier in an effort to help the development of the industry.
According to MOC's statement, Internet cafes will not be worrying about computer quantity anymore, and the new minimum permissible area has been reduced to 20 square meters.
MOC cultural market director Chen Tong said that the government's strict regulations and restrictions for the Internet cafes, including the ban on individual cybercafés, have stunted the industry's growth and resulted in a lack of competition.
The computer quantity and location requirements will not be implemented anymore, according to a memo issued by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security and the MOC.
In Nov. 2013, the aforementioned departments have issued a circular stating that individual cybercafés are now allowed. Previously, only chain Internet cafes that meet certain standards were allowed to operate.
Cybercafé industry expert Pan Gongxia said that due to the public Internet access offered by cybercafés, the Web user population in China has been boosted for a short time. Cafes have also introduced the Internet to the less fortunate, he added.
According to China Internet Network Information Center's report on July 21, the Chinese Web user population hit 632 million by the end of June, and 178 million of which were located in rural areas. The Web user population in China is also considered the largest in the world.
In an April 2013 report from state-owned news agency Xinhua, China had 136,000 cybercafés by the end of 2012, which is a 6.9-percent year-over-year decrease because of the broadband and mobile Internet's sudden popularity.