Google has claimed that it will be unable to sell new Android smartphones in Turkey after falling afoul of the country’s competition regulator.
Reuters reported that the search engine giant had told Turkish partners that it would “not be able to work with them on new Android phones” in the market. Smartphones already using the OS will be unaffected. The firm added that it was attempting to find a solution with the Turkish Competition Authority.
In September 2018, the watchdog issued Google with a TRY93 million ($15.9 million) fine, claiming that the US firm’s Android OS prevented users from changing the default search engine on their devices. At the time, Google was granted six months in which to “reinstall effective competition”.
The competition authority last month argued that Google had not sufficiently altered its contracts with Turkish partners or implemented changes to its Android settings, and ordered the firm to pay 0.05% of its daily revenue until it met the stipulations. Google was granted a 60-day reprieve to challenge the ruling.
