It was a major blow for the search giant in India, where it has poured billions of dollars over the past decade.
Three and a half years ago, after a complaint from two junior associates and a law school student, the Competition Commission of India launched an investigation into the matter.
The Android-maker was ordered to not give incentives to makers of phones to carry its search service.
India is the largest market for the internet search engine. According to Counterpoint, the majority of the country's 600 million mobile phones are powered by the Android operating system.
$10 billion will be invested in the South Asian market by 2020, according to a promise made by the company. Up to $5.5 billion has been funded in the local telecom giants.
After a draft of its findings was reported by the press, the competition regulators handling of the report earned a lot of attention. In response to the leak of the report, which it said impairs its ability to "defend itself and harms Google and its partners", a lawsuit was filed against the regulators.
The regulator said it found the following in its investigation.
Google has perpetuated its dominant position in the online search market resulting in denial of market access for competing search apps in contravention of Section 4(2)(c) of the Act.
Google has leveraged its dominant position in the app store market for Android OS to protect its position in online general search in contravention of Section 4(2)(e) of the Act.
Google has leveraged its dominant position in the app store market for Android OS to enter as well as protect its position in non-OS specific web browser market through Google Chrome App and thereby contravened the provisions of Section 4(2)(e) of the Act.
Google has leveraged its dominant position in the app store market for Android OS to enter as well as protect its position in OVHPs market through YouTube and thereby contravened provisions of Section 4(2)(e) of the Act.
Google, by making pre-installation of Google’s proprietary apps (particularly Google Play Store) conditional upon signing of AFA/ ACC for all Android devices manufactured/ distributed/ marketed by device manufacturers, has reduced the ability and incentive of device manufacturers to develop and sell devices operating on alternative versions of Android i.e., Android forks and thereby limited technical or scientific development to the prejudice of the consumers, in violation of the provisions of Section 4(2)(b)(ii) of the Act.
The watchdog was looking into whether or not there was a dominant position in five different markets: licensable OS for phones, app store, web search services, non-OS specific mobile web browsers and online video hosting platform in India.
The regulator concluded that the market was dominated by the company.
The antitrust watchdog said in its statement that device manufacturers should not be forced to install apps from Google, and that the search giant should not deny access to its Play Services APIs.
When asked if it had received the order, Google said it had yet to do so.
Governments across the globe are starting to worry about the reach of technology giants and whether that is bad for local companies. The European Union imposed a record $4.3 billion fine on the internet giant for using the dominance of its mobile operating system to stifle competition. It is also subject to Germany's new regulations that target large companies.
Two years ago, more than 150 startups and firms in India formed an alliance and toyed with the idea of launching an app store to cut their reliance on the internet. The Play Store billing rule was put on hold because of the backlash.
Jagmeet Singh made a contribution.
There will be more to come.
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