Under the settlement, Google must eliminate practices that tie licensing to app pre-installation or special positioning. Revenue-sharing arrangements that restrict third-party access are also prohibited.
Google has reached a settlement with the Brazilian competition authority following an administrative inquiry into its mobile business practices. The decision from the authority's Tribunal with recommendations from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development addresses concerns over Google’s contracts with smartphone manufacturers and mobile network operators.
Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) President Gustavo Augusto de Lima said that the inquiry focused on three agreements tied to the Android ecosystem: the ‘Anti-Fragmentation Agreement’ designed to ensure compatibility of Android systems; the Mobile Application Distribution Agreement (MADA) governing pre-installation of Google apps; and the ‘Revenue Sharing Agreement’ allocating advertising revenue to manufacturers and operators.
Under these contracts, devices running Android were required to ship with Google Search, Chrome, and other Google apps pre-installed as a condition for licensing Google Play Store. Manufacturers also agreed not to sell devices with unapproved versions of Android and faced restrictions on installing third-party apps, including limitations on their placement within the device interface.
Additionally, Google offered revenue-sharing incentives to manufacturers and operators who refrained from pre-installing competing search tools on certain devices.
“The Tribunal’s jurisprudence establishes that when you have actors in a dominant position, they must be very careful not to close the market completely,” said the CADE president. “We admit some advertising partnerships, but they cannot be structured in a way that blocks other companies from accessing the market.”
Under the settlement, Google will maintain compatibility checks but must eliminate practices that tie licensing to app pre-installation or special positioning. Revenue-sharing arrangements that restrict third-party access are also prohibited.
The agreement was negotiated by CADE’s Superintendence and must be signed within 30 days. It includes an initial monitoring period of three years, extendable for another three.
CADE confirmed to MLex that this settlement is separate from an ongoing investigation launched last December into Google’s potential abuse of dominance in areas such as app distribution and in-app payment systems.
Source: MLex
