The growth of Google’s Android ecosystem is on the brink of stalling in India due to an antitrust order that asks the company to change how it markets the platform, the US company has said in an Indian Supreme Court challenge.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) in October last year fined Alphabet Inc-owned Google US$161 million for exploiting its dominant position in Android, which powers 97 percent of smartphones in India, and asked it to change restrictions imposed on smartphone makers related to preinstalling apps.
Google has so far said the CCI decision would force it to change its long-standing business model, but its Indian Supreme Court filing for the first time quantifies the effect and details the changes the company would need to make.
Photo: Reuters
Google would need to modify its existing contracts, introduce new license agreements and alter its existing arrangements with more than 1,100 device manufacturers and thousands of app developers, it said.
“Tremendous advancement in growth of an ecosystem of device manufacturers, app developers and users is at the verge of coming to a halt because of the remedial directions,” said Google’s filing, which is not public, but was seen by Reuters.
“Google will be required to make far-reaching changes to the Android mobile platform which has been in place for the last 14-15 years,” it said.
A Google spokesperson declined to comment.
Google has been concerned about the Indian decision as the remedies ordered are seen as more sweeping than the European Commission’s landmark 2018 ruling for imposing unlawful restrictions on Android mobile device makers. Google has challenged the record US$4.3 billion fine in that case.
Google licenses its Android system to smartphone makers, but critics say it imposes restrictions such as mandatory preinstallation of its own apps that are anticompetitive. The company says that such agreements help keep Android free.
The CCI in October last year ordered Google to not prohibit uninstalling of its apps by Android phone users in India — currently, users cannot delete apps such as Google Maps or YouTube from their Android phones when they come preinstalled.
The CCI also said that Google’s licensing of its Play Store “shall not be linked with the requirement of preinstalling” Google search services, the Chrome browser, YouTube or any other Google applications.”
“No other jurisdiction has ever asked for such far-reaching changes based on similar conduct,” Google said in its court submissions.
The company has asked the Supreme Court to put on hold the remedial measures ordered by the CCI, which take effect from Thursday next week, court documents dated Saturday last week showed.
The case would likely be heard in the coming days.
Separately, the European Commission wants to ask tech firms and EU telecoms about their investment outlays and cloud infrastructure plans before tabling legislation that could make the former pay for network costs, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange SA, Telefonica SA, Telecom Italia SpA and the big operators say such a move is all about a fair share contribution as the six largest content providers account for just more than half of Internet traffic.
Google, Netflix Inc, Meta Platforms Inc, Amazon.com Inc and other tech giants say the idea amounts to an Internet traffic tax that could undermine Europe’s net neutrality rules treating all users equally.
The commission plans to launch a public consultation with a lengthy questionnaire next week, although the timing might still change, the person said.
It would likely last about 12 weeks before the commission drafts legislation that EU countries and EU lawmakers would need to thrash out before it can become law.
The commission would ask tech firms and telecoms what they are investing in, how this would evolve and whether there is an investment gap, the person said.
They would be asked about their views on a shift into cloud infrastructure and the investments needed for this as regulators want the debate to go beyond spending on cables and tower.
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