Critics say real-name registration is an attempt to deter negative comments about the government and to make it easier to trace the authors of such postings.
Wang Chen, the minister in charge of the State Council Information Office, told reporters in Beijing that real-name registration would be extended to other areas once the pilot programmes had proved successful.
The new measures now formally require anyone signing agreements to access the internet, fixed-line telephone and mobile devices to provide network service operators with "genuine identification information", known as real-name registration, Xinhua reports.