China Grants Licenses for Internet Cafes, Drawing Criticism

China said it had given licenses to 10 local firms to open Internet cafe chains, a move analysts said was designed to squeeze out smaller players and tighten control of sensitive political information. Most of the franchise licenses were given to state-owned companies such as China United Telecommunications Corp, parent of China Unicom Ltd, Great Wall Broadband Network Service Co Ltd or those affiliated with the Ministry of Culture.