New Delhi:
On Monday, the major of Google technology settled with the competition commission in a case of almost four years linked to alleged unfair commercial practices with regard to the Android Smart TV market and agreed to modify its agreement with suppliers.
This is the first case which was settled under the law modified on competition, in which the provisions of the regulation and the commitment were introduced in 2023.
In the case of almost four years, Google has proposed a regulation, including a modified agreement with suppliers who would respond to anti -competitive concerns and also paid an amount of RS 20.24 regulations.
The regulation order was also occurred at a time when US vice-president JD Vance began his four-day visit to India. In addition, India hopes to reach an agreement with the United States in the 90-day break on the steep prices announced by President Donald Trump.
“The Commission examined the proposal for a settlement and observed that by virtue of the” New India Agreement “, Google will provide an autonomous license for the Play Store and the reading services for Android Smart TVS in India, thus deleting the requirement to group these services or impose default placement conditions.
“In addition, by renouncing the need for valid Android compatibility commitment (ACC) for devices shipped to India that do not include Google applications, OEMs can now sell and develop Android incompatible devices without raping the TEO TV distribution contract (TADA),” the regulator said in a statement on Monday.
In addition, as part of the regulation, Google paid RS 20.24 crosses as the amount of the regulation.
Earlier too, Google was noted from the CCI scanner where the latter adopted orders with regard to the Android operating system and the billing issues of the Play Store. Two other cases against Google – one linked to Digital News Public / Adtech and another on the presumed invoicing of Play Store – are currently surveyed by the regulator.
In June 2021, CCI had ordered a detailed investigation into the case after concluding that there was primary evidence of violations of competition law.
The probe by the director general of the regulator’s investigation branch (DG) concluded that the Android Smart TV operating system has a dominant position on the relevant market of the “ Smart TV operating system under license in India ” and that Google Play Store is in a dominant position in the “ market for the app store for Android Smart TV OS in India ‘.
“He noted that the Google – Tada and ACC agreements have executed together, imposed unfair terms by demanding the pre -installation of its full set of Google TV services, preventing OEM from developing or using Android Forks and hindering innovation,” said CCI.
Citing the conclusions of the DG, the guard dog noted that these agreements extended to portfolios of whole devices and included the link of services like YouTube with the Play Store, the strengthening of the domination of the Google market and the violation of several provisions of article 4 of the law.
The allegation of refusal to deal with and the exclusive offer under article 3 (4) was not supported, the press release said.
Section 3 concerns anti -competitive agreements and section 4 concerns the dominant position abuse.
It was alleged that Google abused its dominant position by applying restrictive agreements on OEMs, including the compulsory grouping of the Play Store with Android TV OS and the prevention of the use or the creation of rival rival versions via its anti-fragmentation agreements.
These practices would have blocked market access, slowed down competition and granted unrelated obligations on OEMs, ultimately stifling innovation and violating the provisions of article 4 of the law.
CCI began to examine the question following a complaint filed by two people against Google LLC, Google India PVT LTD, Xiaomi Technology India PVT LTD and TCL India Holding Pvt Ltd.
(This story has not been published by NDTV staff and is automatically generated from a unionized flow.)
