New Delhi: Perhaps in a destructive finding on Google about the abuse of domination, the Investigation Arm of the Indian Competition Commission (CCI) said that American search and giant technology are guilty of adopting anti-competitive trade practices, unfair and strict on mobile operating systems and related markets.
During a two-year investigation, it was ordered by CCI in April 2019, the panel questioned Google – the leader of the dominant and ubiquitous Android operating system (OS) with almost 98% of the smartphone market – and several multi-national and Indian companies as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon , Paytm, Phoneeepe, Mozilla, Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo and Carbonn.
Probe finds Google India guilty of inhibiting competition and innovation to harm the market and consumers to maintain the grip and dominance in search, music (via youtube), browser (Chrome) and Play Store) and other main services.
Investigation reports, which flow to nearly 750 pages, are reviewed exclusively by TOI.
Probes accuse Google that impose and force a one-sided contract on the device and application makers to ensure that the products and applications themselves maintain the advantage in consumer use, and come pre-installed and as the default option to get the highest user preferences.
“Google is found contrary to the provisions of Part 4 (2) (a) (i); Section 4 (2) (b); Section 4 (2) (c); section 4 (2) (d) and section 4 (2) (e) From the Competition Law, “Probe reports summarized, holding the company guilty of various charges, including misuse of dominance, rejection of market access to competitors, and limits and limits technical or scientific development associated with goods or services for consumer prejudice.
This report has been placed before CCI to be considered and if it is found guilty, Google can face penalties or requested to stop the practice that is seen to distort competition and anti-consumer based on market domination.
Google has faced and faced antitrust investigations in various parts of the world – from the US to the European Union, Germany and Japan.
Indian investigation looked at various problems after CCI first received complaints that alleged that Google India had hampered the development and access market application or rival service by requiring smartphone and tablet manufacturers through exclusive pre-installations to install exclusive applications and / or services.
Based on its own exclusive provisions, the company offers a coveted Google Mobile (GMS) service suite with popular products as a bundle, and this includes Google Play Store, search applications, youtube browsers, and Chrome.
Device makers who want to surpass the “naked android version” and to use one of Google applications mandated by Google to sign the Cellular Application Distribution Agreement (MADA) and further Anti-Fragmentation Agreement (AFA) / Commitment of Android Compatibility (ACC), That requires pre-loading Google applications and placements that have been determined for them on the device.
Also, device manufacturers and other partners are offered a profitable share-share agreement – including the Top Player Apple for search engine options for its safari browser – so they provide excellence to application ecosystems and Google-specific services.
In the search engine category, which is the main business of Giant Giant, the CCI Probe found that Google has “confiscated competition” in the Android operating system such as through Mada, the search widget is placed on the default veranda screen and the Chrome browser is included in the Google Apps folder.
“Competitive general search services cannot compensate for the competitive advantage that Google ensures itself through pre-installation and thus, acts as a barrier to enter for competitors,” Note.
With Google controlling almost all smart phone markets in India through Android, this further helped it dominate the search market because it got access to the user data plot that made the results sharper, the report said.