Microsoft is facing another antitrust case – this time from Google

1 December 2023, 16:30 published

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Google has asked Britain’s antitrust regulator to take action against Microsoft over unfair licensing terms thatmake it hard for customers to use other companies’ services.

The news comes just weeks after media regulator Ofcom referred Microsoft and Amazon to the antitrust regulator over their disproportionate dominance in the UK cloud market. In any given month, both combined can account for three-quarters of the market, or more.

Microsoft is also facing an ongoing battle in Europe, where regulators are exploring whether its previous bundling of Teams in with other Office software puts other companies at a disadvantage. Earlier this year, it faced a similar cloud dominance allegation in the EU, too.

Is Microsoft fighting a losing battle?

The company has not been short of a few antitrust cases over recent years, but that is fast becoming a reality for many tech firms as antitrust regulators begin to step up in a bid to increase landscape diversity and protect customers.

Google is reported to have said in a letter (seen by Reuters) to the UK CMA:

“With Microsoft’s licensing restrictions in particular, UK customers are left with no economically reasonable alternative but to use Azure as their cloud services provider, even if they prefer the prices, quality, security, innovations, and features of rivals.”

Google Cloud Vice President Amit Zavery told Reuters: “A lot of our software and cloud services interoperate, and can run on AWS or on Azure as well, so you’re not restricted. If you don’t fix this, eventually you will have fewer cloud providers, and then innovation will not really happen, and investments will start shrinking.”

Zavery added that Microsoft’s licensing terms impose restrictions and fundamentally prevent competition, which is the basis for Google’s complaint. Amazon’s dominance remains a concern, but the Washington-based company’s problem is more of an interoperability one, which Zavery says can be resolved with discussion between providers.

TechRadar Pro asked Microsoft to share its thoughts on reports of a new allegation in the UK and the potential for yet another investigation. The company did not immediately respond.