EU FINES GOOGLE

BRUSSELS: EU imposes record $5 billion fine on Google : The EU antitrust regulators hit Google  with a record fine of 4.34 billions euros ($5 billion) on Wednesday for using its Android mobile operating system to squeeze out rivals.

The US technology company said it would appeal the decision.

The penalty is nearly the double the previous record of 2.4 billion euros which the US company was ordered to pay last year over its online shopping search service.

It represents just over two weeks of revenue for Google parent Alphabet Inc and would scarcely dent its cash reserves of  $102.9 billion. But it could add to a brewing trade war between Brussels and Washington.

EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said she very much liked the United States, countering a reported remark by President Donald Trump that she "hated" the country.

"But the fact is that this has nothing to do with how I feel. Nothing whatsoever. Just as enforcing competition law, we do it in the world, but we do not do it in the political context," she added.

Google's parent company Alphabet said in a regulator's filing it would accrue the fine in the second quarter of 2018.

"We are concerned that today's decision will upset the careful balance that we have struck with Android, and that it sends a troubling signal in favour of proprietary over open platform, "Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog.

Ms. Vestager also ordered Google to halt anti-competitive practices in contractual deals with smartphone makers and telecom providers within 90 days or face additional penalties of up to 5  percent of Alphabet's average daily world wide turnover.

Google has used Android as a vehicle to cement the dominance of its search engine. These practices have denied rivals the chance to innovate and compete on the merits.

They have denied European consumers the benefits of effective competition in the important mobile sphere," Ms. Vestager said.