China said yesterday its mobile phone carriers can use Google's Android operating system so long as the new system complies with regulations.

Google Inc's January 12 announcement that it would no longer censor search results in China prompted concern about possible commercial fallout. The company postponed the launch of its own smart phone in China but others are developing Android-based phones.

"As long as it fulfills Chinese laws and regulations and has good communication with telecom operators, I think its application should not have restrictions," said Zhu Hongren, a spokeman for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, when asked at a news briefing whether China would permit use of Android.

The operating system is the foundation of a mobile phone's features and changing it after products have been launched would require expensive basic redesigns, said Ted Dean, managing director of BDA China Ltd, a Beijing research firm.

"There's a pretty significant upfront investment in developing a phone on one operating system," Dean said.

"So you don't want to change course on so basic a system as what operating system it works on."

Google is in sensitive talks with the Chinese government, trying to keep an important Beijing development center, a lucrative advertising sales team and access to China's booming market.

A Google spokesman, Jessica Powell, declined yesterday to comment on the status of talks or confirm whether top managers from the company's Mountain View, California, headquarters were in Beijing.

China Mobile Ltd, the world's biggest phone company by subscribers, is developing its own smart phone, the OPhone, with Android as its foundation.

Dell Inc, Motorola Inc and Samsung also plan to sell Android-based phones in China.

Google allows free use of Android. Switching systems might boost costs for manufacturers and phone carriers, Dean said.

Microsoft, Nokia and others charge royalties for their mobile phone systems.