BRUSSELS, Belgium and BARCELONA, Spain - The GSMA and 17 major telecom operators and manufacturers have pledged their commitment to a cross-industry standard universal mobile charger that could significantly reduce the ecological impact of mobile handsets.

Not only is it convenient for consumers to have an universal charger that can be used across several handsets, it is also beneficial for the manufacturers who can now separate the charger from a standard box set, considerably reducing the packaging and shipping cost of the product. In what is being considered as a win-win situation, the new energy-efficient chargers are estimated to bring about 50% reduction in standby energy consumption, and the potential elimination of up to 51,000 tonnes of duplicate chargers, which has been a major concern for every handset manufacturer in market today.

The project aptly titled Universal Charging Solution (UCS) has been set a target of 2012, by which the group aims to provide microUSB as the common universal charging interface for every mobile handset in market. In addition to providing UCS as a charging solution, manufacturers have also agreed to ensure that every charger meets the high energy efficiency standards set by Open Mobile Terminal Platform (OMTP), the industry body which suggested the technical requirements for UCS.

UCS is being a hailed as another major step by telecom industry towards environmental-friendly solutions.  The project is a win-win situation for all the players involved. While the environmentalists are happy with the projected reduction of 50% in chargers manufactured every year, which roughly translates into 13.6 to 21.8 million tonnes per year of  reduction of greenhouse gases, accounting manufacturing and shipping statistics alone; manufacturers are set to benefit from decreased packaging and shipping costs; and customers can enjoy the luxury of carrying just one charger for all their mobile devices.

The group of companies to join hands with GSMA's UCS initiative include 3 Group, AT&T, KTF, LG, Mobilkom Austria, Motorola, Nokia, Orange, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telenor, Telstra, T-Mobile and Vodafone. Having roped in most of the major operators and manufacturers, GSMA aims to include several operators and manufacturing communities under its initiative to ensure global participation and commitment as well as to educate the industry and promote the benefits of a universal charger via a targeted marketing campaign.

While the GSMA has come up with a novel idea which is sustainable and beneficial for the entire mobile communication ecosystem, the success of this initiative will depend on wide scale acceptability by manufacturers and distributors across the globe.