London – The UK Competition and Markets Authority today announced the next stage in its Strategic Market Status (SMS) investigation regarding Microsoft’s business software ecosystem. This includes a proposed decision to designate Microsoft as having SMS under the UK’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act. From its initial announcement, the CMA has highlighted “Microsoft’s use of software licensing” as one of the areas for investigation, and this remains the case; however, the CMA has not set out a timeline as it did alongside earlier proposed SMS decisions.
The following can be attributed to CCIA Senior Director and head of CCIA’s London office Matthew Sinclair:
“It is welcome news that the CMA still has software licensing restrictions in its sights. However, the lack of a firm timeline for action is hard to square with claims that the lack of guardrails in its new digital markets powers was necessary so the CMA could respond promptly to well-evidenced barriers to competition. We have now had an Ofcom investigation, a CMA Cloud Market Investigation which found the restrictions had an adverse effect on competition, and could have taken action directly, and still no timeline from the CMA for action. Curbing these restrictions would make it easier for British businesses and the public sector to choose the cloud providers that best suit their needs. Competition should not still be held back by licensing terms designed for the enterprise software sector of the 1990s.”
