Beijing: Sina Weibo, one of the most popular micro-blogging websites in China, has launched paid membership services.

The paid membership will be available at vip.weibo.com. Users need to pay 10 yuan (around $1.5) a month for VIP membership and 15 privileges like homepage decoration and faster download speeds, the China Daily reported Tuesday.

Other micro-blogging websites like Netease, Sohu and Tencent, however, said they have no intention to charge microblog users.

"Sohu micro-blog will never charge fees from its users," said Fang Gang, vice-president of the production department at Sohu, a major competitor to Sina.

Some users said that after the introduction of paid services, "excessive inequality" may occur between ordinary users and the privileged members.