In October, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed a fine of Rs. 1337.76 crores ($161.95 million) on Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., for abusing its monopoly over Android. The CCI also requested that Google lift its prohibitions on smartphone manufacturers pre-installing apps.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) refused to grant a stay, thus on January 11 the Supreme Court agreed to hear Google’s appeal for a hearing regarding the delay of a further Rs 1,337 crore penalty order by CCI on January 16.

Google

Google has now produced a statement in advance of the court proceedings that enables users and stakeholders to fully grasp the significance of the issues at hand. The company said that the CCI’s antitrust decision “strikes a blow” to the ecosystem-wide initiatives to hasten the adoption of digital technology in the nation.

With more and more people going online, Google believes that its open-source and free Android is playing a critical role in lowering the cost of cell phones and accelerating India’s digital transformation. In relation to the app issue, Google states:

“For a country like India, where the cost of adoption is the biggest barrier to digitisation, this has had profound implications. More users have incentivised more developers, and each of those developers achieve immediate scale by writing a single app for Android.“

The availability of Play Services APIs to OEMs, app developers, and rivals for the development of forked Android versions was also addressed by Google in response to CCI remarks. Google claims that the Android remedies mandated by the CCI will expose users to more privacy and danger online. The company said:

“Devices built on incompatible ‘forks’ would prevent Google from securing those devices, as these versions will not support the security and user safety features that Google provides. Lack of robust and consistent security upgrades will leave the users of those devices exposed to cybercrime, bugs, and malware – which is most troubling for the millions of new internet users who are especially vulnerable.”

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