Google To Pay $165 Million Fine In India
The Indian government has fined Google the equivalent of over $165 million. Google is said to be hindering competition by forcing it to pre-install its mobile services and its own apps.
According to the Indian competition authorities, Google violates the laws in force in “several markets” for mobile devices. Therefore, the Internet company is now paying the equivalent of a good $165 million (13.38 billion Indian rupees). With its huge number of potential customers, India is one of the most important markets for Google, which is why the group has invested billions there in recent years.
In a press release, the competition authorities said that Google’s practice of requiring the pre-installation of the entire collection of Google Mobile Services and prominent placement of its in-house apps on devices from various manufacturers when it comes to certification for the Google Play Store amounts to an unlawful restriction of competition.
Access to the Play Store is only available if Google’s apps are preinstalled
With this behavior, Google allegedly also limits the ability of device manufacturers to install products from other providers on their hardware. In addition, the competition in the area of apps for web searches is limited because Google has its own search pre-installed. According to the Indian authorities, the same applies to the other Google apps, which the US company is thwarting the success of alternative providers by having to install them.
According to the Indian authorities, device manufacturers must not be forced to install Google’s services and apps ex-works. Instead, all manufacturers who use Android on their devices should be allowed to use Google Play Services without restriction. However, Google ties this possibility to the pre-installation of its own apps and services, so that without it no official permission is granted for access to the world’s dominant Android app store, which Google is known to operate in the form of the Play Store itself.
Google has not yet commented on the subject because the company has not yet received the full details of the Indian authorities’ new decision. It is questionable whether the current situation in the market will actually change anything as a result of the fine against Google. The pre-installation of the Google Play Store is known to be an important factor for the success of Android hardware, as the example of Huawei has shown in recent years.
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