Google Vs CCI: Third Antitrust Probe Likely To Take Another Year

After two CCI rulings and penalties of INR 2,274.2 Cr ($276.37 Mn), one would assume that the worst is over for tech giant Google. But, the competition commission is probing another antitrust case over the tech giant and may reportedly take another year to come to a conclusion.

The third case deals with Google’s AndroidTV operating system, which came to light when lawyers Kshitiz Arya and Purushottam Anand filed a case in May 2020 and CCI found a prima facie evidence of competition violation in June 2021.

According to a Mint report, changes within the CCI’s leadership and the fact that the competition watchdog usually takes 3-4 years to complete a probe, the third antitrust case would stretch for another year.

The report added that even if the probe was completed by now, CCI would not be in a position to pass judgments on cases. To have a sufficient quorum for key decisions, CCI needs to have two whole-time members and a chairperson.

With chairperson Ashom Kumar Gupta completing his term, CCI only has two members and lacks a full-member panel.

Decoding CCI’s INR 2,274 Cr Penalties

The CCI fined Google INR 1,337.6 Cr and INR 936 Cr for abusing dominance with its Android operating system and the Play Store last month. 

In the first case, CCI found Google guilty of taking advantage of its position and entering into self-serving contracts with smartphone OEMs for its Android operating system.

CCI concluded that in five markets – licensable OS for smartphones, Android-based apps’ play store, general web search services, non-OS-specific mobile web browsers and online video hosting platforms – Google took deliberate measures to consolidate its dominant position and suppress competition.

Thus, the CCI imposed a penalty worth 10% of the average revenue of Google in India over the last three years, or INR 1,337.76 Cr.

The second case dealt with Google’s alleged abuse of dominance within the tech major’s Play Store policies. CCI raised three major issues regarding the Google Play Billing System (GPBS). 

One was that it charged high commissions (up to 30%), second that it alienated other UPI apps (on Play Store) and third, the pre-installation of Google Pay on devices.

For this, CCI imposed a penalty worth 7% of the average revenue of Google in India over the last three years, or INR 936.44 Cr.

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What Does The Third Antitrust Case Entail?

CCI has been looking into allegations since June 2021 over Google’s alleged practice of creating barriers for firms who want to use (or develop) in-house operating systems for their smart TVs.

The case alleges that Google has drawn agreements with companies such as Xiaomi and TCL India to prevent them from using other operating systems, creating barriers for entry to other OS makers.

While Google has claimed that it was in competition with other ecosystems including Amazon’s FireOS, Samsung’s Tizen and LG’s WebOS, it stated that its smart TV licensing practices were in compliance with all laws.

Besides, the US-based big tech is also facing allegations of alleged abuse of its dominant position in the news aggregation space through Google News.