An industry insider reports that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has issued notification of a “network moratorium” to operators. The notification says that from July 20 to September 20 in Olympic cities, and from August 1 to August 25 in other cities, work on all telecom network engineering projects, network splits, joins and upgrades, circuitry adjustments, and activation and adjustments of services is to be halted. With the exception of major state-directed testing projects, no testing is to be allowed for activation of new telecom services.

The notification will not affect normal operation of telephone or data services; however in some areas new installation of phone lines and broadband connections may be on hold.

In addition, some Internet data center (IDC) companies report that equipment rooms containing servers and other equipment are off-limits and connections for sites that engage in unauthorized rebroadcast of Olympic events and related activities, or sites with data security problems, will be cut and not restored for the duration stipulated by the notification. Operators will also shut off third-party SMS subscription and creation services for wireless value-added service providers (SPs), as well as BBS services.

Source:China Business News