New Delhi: Google abused the dominant position of its Android OS in India, using its “huge financial muscle” to illegally hurt competitors, antitrust authority Competition Commission of India (CCI) found during a report on its two-year probe seen by Reuters.
Alphabet Inc’s Google reduced “the ability and incentive of device manufacturers to develop and sell devices operating on alternative versions of Android,” says the June report by the CCI’s investigations unit.
The US tech giant told Reuters during a statement it’s forward to working with the CCI to “demonstrate how Android has led to more competition and innovation, not less.”
Google has not received the investigation report, an individual with direct knowledge of things told Reuters.
The CCI didn’t answer an invitation for a discuss the report. Senior CCI members will review the report and provides Google another chance to defend itself, before issuing a final order, which could include penalties, said another person conversant in the case.
Google would be ready to appeal any order within the courts here.
Its findings are the newest antitrust setback for Google in India, where it faces several probes within the payments app and smart television markets. the corporate has been investigated in Europe, the us et al. . This week, South Korea’s antitrust regulator fined Google $180 million for blocking customised versions of Android.
‘Vague, Biased And Arbitrary’
Google submitted a minimum of 24 responses during the probe, defending itself and arguing it had been not hurting competition, the report says.
Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc, also as smartphone makers like Samsung and Xiaomi, were among 62 entities that skilled CCI questions during its Google investigation, the report says.
Android powers 98% of India’s 520 million smartphones, consistent with Counterpoint Research.
When the CCI ordered the probe in 2019, it said Google seemed to have leveraged its dominance to scale back device makers’ ability to choose alternate versions of its mobile OS and force them to pre-install Google apps.
The 750-page report finds the mandatory pre-installation of apps “amounts to imposition of unfair condition on the device manufacturers” in violation of competition law, while the corporate leveraged the position of its Play Store app store to guard its dominance.
Play Store policies were “one-sided, ambiguous, vague, biased and arbitrary”, while Android has been “enjoying its dominant position” in licensable operating systems for smartphones and tablets since 2011, the report says.
The probe was triggered in 2019 after two junior antitrust research associates and a student filed a complaint, Reuters reported.
India remains a key growth marketplace for Google. It said last year it might spend $10 billion within the country over five to seven years through equity investments and tie-ups, its biggest commitment to a key growth market.