The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) will investigate Google’s acquisition of Israeli mapping app maker Waze to assess its impact on competition in the UK.
The British regulator will decide whether the acquisition will have any effect on the mobile mapping sector under the Enterprise Act.
The OFT would identify whether the acquisition will generate revenue of more than £70m ($108.8m) from the UK or could lead to the search engine giant gaining more than a 25% share of the market.
If it is found to be violating competition laws, Google could be ordered to divest part of its stake in the market to ensure a level playing field for competitors.
Google bought Waze for $1bn (£640m) in June 2013.
Waze, which claims to have about 47m users, generates maps by utilising satellite signals from smartphones.
Founded five years ago, Waze’s app combines online maps with updates from other users regarding traffic jams, road works and accidents.
Earlier in August, Google said it would integrate reports from Waze users into its own maps.
The US Federal Trade Commission has already started its own investigation into the acquisition.
