India’s antitrust order will block Android advances in the country, warns Google • TechCrunch

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Google has warned that the growth of Android use in India could stall due to an antitrust order issued last year by the Indian antitrust authority over the US company’s dominance in the country.

The order, issued in September by the Competition Commission of India (CCI), found that Google had abused its dominant position in the mobile operating system market by imposing restrictive contracts on mobile device makers.

The CCI has ordered Google to amend its contracts with manufacturers, allowing them more freedom to install rival apps and services on Android devices. According to a Reuters report, Google has filed an appeal with India’s Supreme Court and said the order would require some changes to existing contracts and new licensing agreements. It would change the company’s existing agreements with more than 1,100 device manufacturers and thousands of app developers.

“The tremendous progress in growing an ecosystem of device makers, app developers and users is on the brink of halting due to the corrective guidance,” the company said in the filing, as quoted by the news agency. “No other jurisdiction has ever sought such far-reaching changes based on similar behavior.”

After a three-and-a-half-year investigation, the Indian watchdog fined Google $161.9 million for its anti-competitive practices related to Android devices in different markets, such as licensed operating systems for smartphones, app stores, Web search and non-OS specific mobile web. browsers. The regulator concluded that the Android maker dominated all those markets.

Google had responded to the order and said it was “a major setback for Indian consumers and businesses”. The company also appealed the ruling to the country’s appellate court, the National Appeals Tribunal for Company Law (NCLAT).

Last week, the court rejected Google’s request for an interim stay of the antitrust order and ordered the company to pay 10% of the $161.9 million fine as the case is expected to be heard next month.

This isn’t the first time Google has been the subject of an antitrust investigation. The company has previously been investigated by authorities in other countries. For example, Google eventually lost its appeal against a massive $4.3 billion fine in Europe.

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