Google has agreed to pay a Aus$55 million (US$36 million) penalty for striking “anti-competitive” deals to pre-install only its own search engine on Android mobile phones sold by two leading Australian telecoms firms.

Australia’s competition authority said it had launched proceedings in the Federal Court and jointly submitted with Google Asia Pacific that it should pay the fine.

The court would now decide whether the agreed penalty and other orders were “appropriate”, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said in a statement released on Monday.

“Conduct that restricts competition is illegal in Australia because it usually means less choice, higher costs or worse service for consumers,” said the commission’s chair, Gina-Cass Gottlieb.

Google had cooperated with the competit

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