Optus Mobile Pty Ltd and Singtel Optus Pty Ltd

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has accepted a court enforceable undertaking from Optus Mobile Pty Ltd and Singtel Optus Pty Ltd (together, Optus) under section 87B of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (CCA).

Optus supplies mobile phones, tablets, and mobile network services in Australia. It is one of three mobile network operators in Australia.

During the course of the ACCC’s ongoing investigation into Google’s search services in Australia, the ACCC became aware that some of the competition concerns arose out of the nature of certain agreements Google had entered into with Optus. These agreements, in place since at least 2017, limited the ability for rival search engines to be pre-installed and promoted on Android devices, in return for a share of Google’s advertising revenue. Optus’ most recent agreement with Google expired on 30 June 2024.

Optus has fully cooperated with the ACCC’s investigation and has acknowledged that the ACCC has concerns that Optus’ conduct, as a counterparty to the agreements with Google, may raise concerns under section 45 of the CCA.

To address the ACCC’s concerns in respect of Optus’ conduct, Optus provided the ACCC with a section 87B undertaking that it will not:

• renew or extend the term of its most recent agreement with Google, in its current form;
• enter into any arrangement with Google, which gives Google preinstallation or default rights for Google’s search services in respect of devices distributed by Optus in Australia, on terms which:
  • require Optus to configure the search service, in a manner specified by Google, across all devices distributed by Optus to be eligible to receive any payment from Google;
  • require that Google be set as default on an exclusive basis across all existing and emerging search access points on a device; or
  • prevent Optus from:
    • electing to set as a default or to preinstall on a device a rival search service including on the most prominent positions on a device (i.e. the default home screen);
    • promoting to end users a search service supplied by a rival; or
    • changing in any manner the default search service settings from initial factory settings for Google applications.

The undertaking will be in effect for 3 years from the commencement date.