UK Delays Provisional Findings in Cloud Market Probe to January

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has revised the timeline for its ongoing investigation into the cloud computing sector, announcing that its provisional findings will now be published in January 2025 instead of December 2024. The final report is still expected by the original deadline of July 2025, according to an updated schedule released on Wednesday.

The CMA’s investigation focuses on the cloud computing market, which is largely dominated by Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. The inquiry was initiated following concerns raised by Ofcom, the UK’s media regulator. According to Reuters, Ofcom flagged potential anti-competitive practices, such as data transfer fees and volume discounts, which could discourage customers from switching providers or using multiple suppliers.

The CMA has also been scrutinizing Microsoft’s software licensing practices, particularly for products like Windows Server and Microsoft 365. These practices allegedly make it more challenging for customers to use rival cloud platforms, a concern echoed in recent legal actions.

Related: CMA Study: Most UK Supermarket Loyalty Discounts Are Legitimate

This week, competition lawyer Maria Luisa Stasi filed a case against Microsoft in the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal, claiming that British businesses and organizations might collectively be owed over £1 billion ($1.27 billion) in compensation due to Microsoft’s cloud licensing policies.

International regulators are also taking notice. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched a wide-ranging antitrust investigation into Microsoft, sources told Reuters. This inquiry is reportedly examining whether the tech giant is leveraging its dominance in productivity software to impose punitive licensing terms, potentially restricting customers from transferring data away from its Azure cloud services.

Source: Reuters