Amazon and Microsoft are both under investigation by the British government for anticompetitive practices. Both Big Tech companies dominate the industrial sized cloud hosting.
Microsoft’s Azure continues to be the backbone of many corporations’s productivity tools, while Amazon Web Services is used by other many tech websites and subscription services, such as Apple’s. The Verge says:
The clouds are gathering over Microsoft’s Azure operations in the EU and now the UK, with the launch of a new investigation into major cloud service providers that also includes Amazon. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is just about to wrap up its concerns over cloud gaming with Microsoft’s proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition, but it will soon turn its attention to Microsoft’s Azure cloud offerings and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
It’s part of a fresh investigation into public cloud providers in the UK, after telecoms regulator Ofcom “identified a number of features in the supply of cloud services that make it more difficult for customers to switch and use multiple cloud suppliers.”
The British government will be conducting an investigation until 2025, at which point it could force a breakup in the United Kingdom. The BBC reports:
The CMA said it would conclude its investigation by April 2025. The body has the power to force companies to change practices, block purchases or even sell off parts of their businesses if it feels there is a legitimate threat to the market.
”All credit to Ofcom for addressing the anti-competitive issues such as data egress fees, technical and commercial lock-ins that have damaged and distorted the UK’s growing cloud infrastructure market for too long,” said Nicky Stewart, former head of ICT at the Cabinet Office.
The US Government is already putting pressure on Amazon and Google for anticompetitive practices. This investigation could be used as a jumping point for an American investigation into these two companies.
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