As Google and Apple continue to battle allegations of monopoly, Mexico on Friday launched an antitrust probe against the tech giants, accusing the duo of "completely inhibit(ing) competition".
Mexican telecommunications regulator IFT was notified of the firms’ anti-competitive conduct by Mony de Swaan Addati, the former head of the telecommunications federation that IFT later replaced.
In his complaint, Addati accused Apple and Google of "completely inhibit(ing) competition" by "taking advantage of their monopoly in app stores to tie use of their own payment processing systems for in-app purchases."
Crippling competition, Google's Play store and Apple's store charge 15%-20% commission.
"I have full confidence that (the IFT) will investigate and exercise its powers - in line with international best practices - so that these companies stop abusing their market power to the detriment of developers and consumers," added Addati.
Besides app store dominance, Google's Android has the largest market share in Mexico with 77% penetration, according to the latest data from Statcounter.
The latest probe adds to mounting lawsuits and complaints filed against the companies.
Back in August, the US Department of Justice sued Google for abuse of its dominant position in the digital advertising market. French app developers sue Apple over supra-competitive App Store fees in the same month.
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