Google settles India’s antitrust probe in Android TV case

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(Reuters) -India’s competition regulator said on Monday it has approved the settlement proposal of Alphabet’s Google in the Android TV case, under which it had charged the company over anticompetitive practices.

The Competition Commission of India had said the U.S. tech giant abused its Android operating system’s position in the smart television market in the country. India is one of Google’s key markets.

After two Indian antitrust lawyers filed a case against Google, CCI probed and found the tech firm engaged in anti-competitive practices by creating barriers for firms wanting to use or develop modified versions of Android for smart TVs.

CCI said Google’s mandatory preinstallation of Google Play Store and other applications, under its television app distribution agreement, amounted to misusing its dominant position.

Google then filed a settlement application in which it proposed a standalone license for its Play Store and Play Services for Android smart TVs in the country instead of bundling the services.

Under the new agreement, Play Store and Play Services, which were being provided for free, will include a fee.

Google will also send a letter to its partners selling Android TV in India stating they enjoy the flexibility of using an open-sourced operating system without taking on any Google apps and that the smart TVs can be developed with any other OS.

The CCI said the scope of this new agreement extends beyond smart TVs.

CCI also approved a final amount of 202.4 million rupees ($2.38 million) that Google will pay as part of the settlement.

($1 = 85.1370 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee and Manvi Pant in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Krishna Chandra Eluri)