Google said on Friday it has appealed an order by India’s antitrust agency against the company’s anti-competitive practices around Android mobile devices in key overseas markets.
The company has appealed to the national appellate court, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), against an October order by the Competition Commission of India in which the regulator fined Google $162 million.
In a statement, a Google spokesperson said: “We have decided to appeal the CCI’s decision on Android as we believe it is a major setback for Indian users and businesses who trust Android’s security features and could drive up the cost of mobile devices. .”
“We look forward to making our case in NCLAT and remaining committed to serving our users and partners.”
In October, the CCI, which began investigating Google three-and-a-half years ago, said it found that Google required device makers to preinstall its entire Google Mobile Suite and enforced prominent placement of those apps “imposing unfair conditions on device makers.” , and therefore “in contravention of section 4(2)(a)(i) of the Act. “
A few days later, the CCI fined Google $113 million for abusing its Google Play Store dominance and ordered the company to allow app developers to use third-party payment processing services to make in-app purchases or purchase apps.
India is an important overseas market for Google. Google has accumulated more than 500 million users in the South Asian market. The company has poured billions of dollars into its Indian operations over the past decade and has pledged to invest another $10 billion in the country over the next few years.
(more follow-up)