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The
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said in a
statement it had commenced proceedings in the Australian Federal
Court on Monday against the Singapore-based Google Asia Pacific
division. The court will decide whether the AU$50 million ($36
million) penalty is appropriate.
Under the anticompetitive agreements, which were in place for 15
months until March 2021, Telstra and Optus only pre-installed
Google Search on Android phones sold to customers. Other search
engines were excluded. In return, the telcos received a share of
the advertisement revenue Google generated from those customers.
Google accepted that the agreements were likely to have the
effect of “substantially lessening competition,” the commission
said.
Google has also signed a court-enforceable undertaking that
commits the company to removing certain pre-installation and
default search engine restrictions from its contracts with
Android phone manufacturers and telcos, the commission said.
The tech company said in a statement: “We’re pleased to resolve
the ACCC’s concerns, which involved provisions that haven’t been
in our commercial agreements for some time.”
Commissioner chair Gina-Cass Gottlieb said: "Conduct that
restricts competition is illegal in Australia because it usually
means less choice, higher costs or worse service for consumers.”
“Importantly, these changes come at a time when AI search tools
are revolutionising how we search for information, creating new
competition,” Cass-Gottlieb added.
Last year, Telstra, Optus and their smaller rival TPG agreed to
court-enforceable undertakings with the commission that they
would not renew or make similar deals with Google to limit
search options.
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