Google and Airtel to offer affordable access to smartphones

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Google and Airtel to offer affordable access to smartphones

Google will invest up to $1 billion in partnership with India s Airtel to provide affordable access to smartphones to over a billion Indians and speed up use of cloud-based computing for business, the two companies said on Friday.

Google said the investment will help India's small businesses adopt digital tools as India works to adopt digital education, payments and e-commerce amid the pandemic.

It said that the companies plan to develop software for 5 G and other standards.

The services of Google are accessed by over 100 million users in India. The Competition Commission of India has faced legal difficulties with the company, saying it has abused the dominant position of its Android system in the Smart TV market segment. Regulators say that Smart TVs don't have an alternative to Android and are therefore obliged to install Google's apps.

Google hasn't denied any violations of its licensing practices, saying they are in compliance with the law.