Mexicali City Following a complaint from Mexico's former telecom director, Apple and Alphabet's Google are being investigated for anti-competitive behaviour there, he claimed in a message on Twitter on Friday.
Mony de Swaan Addati, the former head of the previous telecommunications federation that was later replaced by IFT, filed the complaint with Mexico's telecommunications regulator IFT yesterday.
In his case, he charges Apple and Google with "totally inhibit(ing) competition" and accuses them of "tying use of their own payment processing systems for in-app transactions to their monopoly in app stores."
De Swaan Addati claimed in an online statement that Google's Play shop and Apple's store charge 15%–20% commission, driving up prices.
Google chose not to respond. Both Apple and the IFT were unable for comment right away.
Apple and Google have both loosened rules and reduced fees as a result of a recent wave of lawsuits and complaints challenging the pair's app store policies in numerous countries, but some app developers and other opponents say additional changes are still required.
De Swaan Addati stated that he took his case to the IFT after the Mexican competition watchdog turned down his request to launch an investigation into the corporations.
In keeping with international best practises, he stated, "I have full faith that (the IFT) will examine and apply its authorities so that these businesses stop abusing their market position to the harm of developers and customers."
Statista, a data company, claims thatover 30 million smartphones were forecast to be sold in Mexico last year.
Google's Android has the largest market share in Mexico with 77% penetration, according to the latest data from Statcounter.
Apple is facing scrutiny elsewhere in the region, with Brazilian regulators having banned the sale of iPhones without a charger earlier this week..
