New Delhi, Aug. 18 -- Google on Monday agreed to pay $50 million Australian or $35.8 milllion US to the country's consumer watchdog. The search giant had to pay the fine after it was found that its deal with Australia's two largest telecom opertaors to pre-install Google search application on Android phones and exclude rival search engines had hurt competition in the market.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has stated that it has begun proceedings in Australian Federal Court on Monday against Google's Asia Pacific division. The court will now decide whether the AU $50 million penalty is appropriate or not.

Why has Google been fined in Australia?

Under Google's anticompetitive agreeents, Telstra and Optus only pre-installe...