NEW DELHI: The CCI on Thursday fined Alphabet Inc’s Google ₹ 1,337 crores for anti-competitive practices related to Android mobile devices. In a tweet about the complaint, it said that it fined Google for “abusing dominant position in multiple markets in the Android mobile device ecosystem.”
The antitrust watchdog said Google had abused its dominance in the licensing of its operating system for smart mobile devices, app store market for Android smart mobiles, general web search services, non-operating system-specific mobile web browsers, and online video hosting platforms.
“The Commission in the instant matter has examined various practices of Google w.r.t. licensing of this Android mobile operating system and various proprietary mobile applications of Google (e.g. Play Store, Google Search, Google Chrome, YouTube, etc.),” the CCI said in a press release.
The report further stated that during the course of this investigation, Google said it faces competitive constraints from Apple. However, in its report, the CCI notes the difference in business models of both Google and Apple.
Furthermore, the CCI found Google to be dominant in various instances as it enters into multiple agreements with OEMs who use Google’s apps and Android OS.
The CCI has given Google 30 days to provide the requisite financial details and supporting documents – the final penalty may increase.