Google’s international antitrust woes continue. This time it’s a federal regulatory agency in India giving the company some expensive trouble: the Competition Commission of India found that Google is engaging in “anti-competitive, unfair, and restrictive trade practices” in the mobile phone market and related areas. The report concludes that Google violated five different sections of India’s Competition Act of 2002.
The Times of India (via XDA) claims to have a copy of the final report, which states that Google abused its market position to deny access to competitors. It did so by the familiar vector of Google Mobile Services. The company allegedly forced device makers to agree to the Mobile Application Distribution Agreement in order to get access to Google apps and the Play Store, a big chunk of what many consumers consider an essential feature of Android. The agreement gives Google services like Search, Chrome, and YouTube pride of place on Android devices sold at retail, and keeps competing alternatives to the Play Store from being pre-loaded.
Google will have a chance to contest the findings of the CCI’s report before a judgment is made, but even with the company’s massive legal muscle, a favorable outcome doesn’t seem likely. A hefty fine, and possibly some kind of injunction against the bundling of apps and Android services, would be the most predictable conclusion.
Android absolutely dominates India with almost 98% of smartphone sales, so it’s no surprise that Google’s getting extra regulatory scrutiny. But India isn’t the only place the company is having trouble. In nations around the world regulators are clamping down on Google for monopolistic practices, with an eye on Android and the Play Store in particular. Google is facing both a federal antitrust case and a multi-state lawsuit in the United States, a huge fine and a new law in South Korea, browser tracking investigations in the EU, and an expanded anti-competition probe in Australia, among many others.
