"This is a broad agreement that will move the industry to a single, energy-efficient charger for all mobile phones," said Michael O'Hara, marketing director for the GSM Association (GSMA).
The GSMA is looking to have the majority of cell phones produced by the year 2012 equipped with ports compatible with the new charger interface. The GSMA looks to save considerable energy with a 50% reduction in standby energy consumption, as well as the potential elimination of over 50,000 tons of "duplicate chargers."
From the press release:
"A universal charger will also make life much simpler for the consumer, who will be able to use the same charger for future handsets, as well as being able to charge their mobile phone anywhere from any available charger. UCS chargers will also include a 4-star or higher efficiency rating, which is up to three times more energy-efficient than an unrated charger. Furthermore, with potentially 50 per cent less chargers4 being manufactured each year, the industry can expect to reduce greenhouse gases in manufacturing and transporting replacement chargers by 13.6 to 21.8 million tonnes a year." See website link below for claims and citations.
Initial adopters 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.
See the GSMA press release.