Indian regulators have fined Google $161.9 million for anti-competitive practices related to Android mobile devices.
The Competition Commission of India, which began investigating Google three and a half years ago following a complaint by two junior associates and a law student, said in a press release that manufacturers device to pre-install the entire Google Mobile Suite and mandates that the apps be in a “prominent” location on the device. This, the commission said, “amounts to imposing an unfair term on device manufacturers” and therefore violates the provisions of Section 4(2)(a)(i) of the Act.
India is Google's biggest market in terms Android of, Google's operating system, powers 97% of the country's 600 million smartphones . users. According to research firm Counterpoint,
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The regulator proceeded with the fine against Google after also finding the following in its investigation:
- Google is exploiting its dominant position in the online search market and making it difficult for competing search applications to gain access to the market (violation of Section 4(2)(c) of the Act).
- Google has exploited stores app operating system Android to protect its position in general internet search in breach of Section 4(2)(e) of the Act.
- Google has exploited its dominant position in the app store market to enter and protect its position in the non-OS web browser, through the Google Chrome , and thereby violated the provisions of Section 4(2)(e) of the Act.
- Google exploited its dominant position in the app store market for the Android OS to protect its position in the OVHP market through YouTube and, therefore, violated the provisions of Section 4(2)(e) of the Act.
- Google, by pre-installing its own applications (in particular the Google Play Store) on Android devices manufactured/distributed/marketed by device manufacturers, has reduced the ability and incentives of device manufacturers to develop and sell devices running on alternative versions of Android, e.g. Android forks, and is therefore responsible for the limited technical or scientific development that operates to the detriment of consumers, (in violation of the provisions of Section 4 paragraph 2 letter b) point ii) of the Law).
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The Competition Commission of India investigated whether Google had occupied a dominant position in five different markets in India: a) licensed operating system for smartphones, b) app store, c) web search services, d) non-OS specific mobile web browsers and e) online video hosting platform.
Google was dominant in all of these relevant markets, the regulator concluded.
The antitrust authority said in its statement that device manufacturers should not be forced to install Google apps.
The fine and the regulator's order could limit Google's growth in the market, analysts say. It's not yet known how Google will respond. To comply with the remedial measures, it will likely need to make some significant changes to its business strategies.
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Google is being investigated by governments around the world as policymakers begin to worry about the reach of tech giants and assess whether this is at the expense of local companies.
Two years ago, more than 150 startups and companies in India started an alliance and had the idea of launching an app to reduce their dependence on Google.
Source: techcrunch.com
