Imagine being in a mobile phone market that Google is not a part of. The people of Turkey may have that as their reality in the near future, according to a report by Reuters.
According to the report, Google has told its business partners in the country that it will not be able to work with them on new Android phones. This comes after the Turkish competition board deeming the company’s changes to its contracts were not acceptable.
Though it doesn’t look like the company is pulling out of the country without a fight. Turkish newspaper Haberturk reported that Google is also asking its partners to pressure the Turkish trade minister and head of the competition authority to overturn the ruling.
In September 2018, the internet search giant was found to be violating competition law with its mobile software sales. It was issued a fine of TL93 million (~RM65.7 million) by Turkish competition board. The Turkish competition board then ruled on 7 November that Google made insufficient changeswere insufficient. This is chiefly because it still did not allow the change of the default search engine.
Earlier in January this year, the Turkish competition authority also said it is investigating if Google’s algorithms violate competition laws. This follows a complaint that the company
(Source: Reuters)
