London – Competition regulators announced provisional findings in their cloud services investigation. The Competition and Markets Authority argued that competition is not functioning as well as it could and noted in those provisional findings that Microsoft is using its strength in productivity software to make it harder for customers to choose other cloud service providers.
The following can be attributed to CCIA Senior Director and head of CCIA’s London office Matthew Sinclair:
“Unfair licensing terms for legacy software, such as office suites, are costing UK users a fortune. The CMA needs to move quickly to act on its finding and to address a longstanding barrier to choice for users of certain cloud providers. However, the UK is benefiting from healthy competition in the wider IT services industry, with new opportunities for business, AI innovation and investment. The CMA should be careful to avoid premature or overly broad interventions in the wider cloud sector.”
