China is making a national standard on mobile phone chargers sold in the country to avoid waste and lower costs for users.

The standard, drafted by the Telecommunications Academy under the Ministry of Information Industry (MII), has been submitted to theMII for approval, said He Guili, director of a laboratory under the academy in charge of the program.

"It is likely to be approved before the end of this year," He said.

Under the new standard, all mobile phones, no matter what brands they are, can share one charger with an USB access. Users can even charge their handsets through connection with laptops.

Though not compulsory, the standard will be recommended by the MII. "We believe that the home-brands makers will give positive response to it," said He.

He said the standardization may reduce profits of handset manufacturers and force them to redesign their products.

The new standard would also help lower the demand for mobile phone chargers as consumers do not have to buy new charger in purchase of new handsets. It may affect the charger making industry, said He.

With application of a unified standard, cost of a new handset will be lower, which is a good news for users, said the expert, adding that it will also reduce electronic waste and consumption of resources.

The expert predicted that the standard, which has been under study for more than two years, may take effect in the first half of 2007.

Lou Peide, executive secretary general with China Mobile Communications Association, estimated that the new standard may save nearly 2.4 billion yuan (306 million U.S. dollars) each year for handsets made in China if the cost of each charger is set around seven to eight yuan.

Statistics show that about 1 billion handsets are made every year in the world and 300 million of them are made in China. There have been no unified standards in the world for mobile phone chargers.

Editor: Donald