Google abused its dominant position Android Operating systems in India are using their “huge financial strength” to illegally hurt competitors, the country’s antitrust authority found in a report on its two-year investigation seen by Reuters. Google The Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) investigation unit’s June report said it “diminished the ability and incentive of device manufacturers to develop and sell devices running alternative versions of Android.”
The US tech giant told Reuters in a statement that it looks forward to working with CCI “to demonstrate how Android has led to more competition and innovation, not less.” Google has not received the investigation report, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters. The CCI did not respond to a request for comment on the report. Senior members of the CCI will review the report and give Google another chance to defend itself before issuing a final order, which could include penalties, another person said in the case. Google will be able to appeal against any order in the courts of India.
Its findings are the latest antitrust blow for Google in India, where it faces multiple investigations into the payments app and smart television markets. The company has been investigated in Europe, the United States and elsewhere. This week, South Korea’s antitrust regulator fined Google $180 million for blocking customized versions of Android.
‘vague, biased and arbitrary’
The report said Google provided at least 24 responses during the investigation, defending itself and arguing that it was not harming competition. Microsoft, heroine, Apple, as well as smartphone manufacturers prefer samsung And Xiaomi, were among 62 entities that responded to CCI’s queries during its Google investigation, the report said.
According to Counterpoint Research, Android powers 98 percent of India’s 520 million smartphones.
When the CCI ordered the investigation in 2019, it said that it appeared that Google was trying to curtail the ability of device makers to choose alternative versions of its mobile operating system and to pre-install Google apps. He took advantage of his dominance to force. The 750-page report found the mandatory pre-installation to “amount to the imposition of an unfair position on device makers” in violation of India’s competition law, while the company leveraged its Play Store App Store position to defend its dominance. raised.
While the Play Store policies were “unilateral, vague, vague, biased and arbitrary”, Android has been “enjoying its dominant position” in the licensable operating system for smartphones and tablets since 2011, the report said. has gone.
The investigation was launched in 2019 after two Indian junior antitrust research associates and a law student filed complaints, Reuters reported.
India remains a major growth market for Google. It said last year it would spend $10 billion (about Rs 73,695 crore) in the country through equity investments and tie-ups, its biggest commitment to a key growth market.
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