Google Plans to File Legal Challenge to India on Android Licensing and its restrictive agreements with smartphone makers.
In a tweet, Google's lead lawyer argues that the order has inherent flaws and will likely be overturned. The company said it plans to file a legal challenge in the coming weeks. The company has been facing regulatory pressure around the world due to its licensing of the Android operating system and its restrictive agreements with smartphone makers.
India's antitrust watchdog, the CCI, has ordered Google to ease restrictions on sideloading, the practice of downloading apps from an unofficial source other than the Play Store. The CCI's order also says Google must let other app stores be incorporated into its Play Store. The move would help domestic competitors like Indus App Bazaar, which offers thousands of Android apps in both English and local languages.
The competition watchdog in India is also looking into Google's in-app payments system and its business practices in the smart television market. The company has invested billions of dollars in India and is hoping to make its services more accessible and useful to a billion people.
Earlier this year, India sold 8 million smart TVs, with about 60% of those powered by Android. According to Google, three out of five smart TVs are powered by Google's Android operating system, which powers nearly 99% of the country's half billion smartphone users. As of today, there is no alternative to Android for manufacturers of Smart TVs, which leaves them with no choice but to install Google's apps.
Despite the new regulatory action, the company said it would continue to work with the competition regulator in the U.K. and other countries in order to resolve the situation. In the meantime, the company will continue to use the Android operating system to expand its advertising reach. This includes putting its search engine and mapping system on phones and providing access to its YouTube video network to its Android users. But the changes may also lead to anticompetitive allegations.
In Turkey, the antitrust regulator went further than other countries in the world. In April, Turkish antitrust officials said that Google's local search function had violated the antitrust laws in the country. Ultimately, these changes were not beneficial for users. The regulators also ordered Google to make competing shopping websites more prominent in Google search results.
The Turkish antitrust agency said the agency's actions against Google weren't politically motivated. Still, some legal experts noted that it wasn't linked to any other regulatory efforts. But with Turkey's president Erdogan tightening his grip on government bureaucracy, the company faces a potentially new showdown. The Turkish government has a history of blocking Google's YouTube.