China orders halt to new phone, Internet accounts in August as carriers focus on Olympics

The government has ordered China's fast-growing phone companies to stop adding new customers in August so they can focus on ensuring service for the Beijing Olympics, company employees said Thursday.

The moratorium on new phone and Internet connections adds to sweeping measures, including traffic bans and factory shutdowns that are meant to ensure good conditions for the games, a major prestige event for the communist government.

"We simply won't touch the network any more to ensure its stability for the Olympic Games," said an employee of China Telecom Ltd., China's main fixed-line carrier, who said he had seen an internal company memo on the …