IT'S not just cordless telephones batteries that may have safety issues.

Those for handphones may as well, especially if you use non-original, cheaper batteries.

With these, your phone could explode and catch fire - as three of them did in the Netherlands and Vietnam, according to a 2003 report in The Straits Times.

At the time, the PSB Corporation (Testing Group) said they have not dealt with any cases of exploding phones here.

But they said it was best to use an original battery as the handphone and battery have been designed to work together.

Users should also bear in mind that it's a question of whether the battery has been tested properly.

A PSB Corp spokesman said: 'A branded battery that hasn't been tested could also be dangerous. However, it is more likely that a branded battery would have been properly tested to the correct standards.'

Nokia has blamed one of the two explosions in the Netherlands on an unauthorised, counterfeit battery, and said original batteries sold with its phones were safe.

The article was first published in Jan 02, 2007