Google called the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) antitrust directives a “blow to digital adoption in India” in its first public response.
“Google has worked closely with India over the last several years as it has undergone an exciting digital transformation. However, at a time when only half of India’s population is connected, the CCI’s order “hits the ecosystem-wide efforts to accelerate digital adoption in the country,” the tech giant said in a blog post. In an apparent attempt to counter CCI’s claims, Google stated that Android was critical to India’s mobile and Internet growth stories. The tech giant claimed that Android’s ‘free open source’ nature has helped device manufacturers make smartphones’more affordable by a wide margin.’
