Microsoft’s cloud business targeted by EU antitrust regulators

By Paresh Dave

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU antitrust regulators are quizzing Microsoft’s rivals and consumers about its cloud small business and licensing offers, a questionnaire noticed by Reuters confirmed, in a shift that could direct to a official investigation and renewed scrutiny of the U.S. application corporation.

The European Fee has fined Microsoft a total 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in the earlier 10 years for breaching EU antitrust guidelines and for not complying with its buy to halt anti-competitive procedures.

The organization observed itself on the EU opposition enforcer’s radar once more just after German software service provider NextCloud, France’s OVHcloud and two other corporations filed grievances about Microsoft’s cloud methods.

“The Fee has info that Microsoft may well be employing its possibly dominant placement in particular application markets to foreclose competition concerning sure cloud computing providers,” the questionnaire said.

Regulators questioned if the phrases in Microsoft’s licensing bargains with cloud service vendors enable rivals to contend effectively.

They also want to know if corporations desired Microsoft’s functioning systems and productiveness apps to enhance their individual cloud infrastructure providing in order to contend correctly.

Corporations also were questioned about the variances in license fees and business terms between the licensing bargains with cloud support providers and a further programme in which they package deal and indirectly resell Microsoft’s cloud providers together with their individual.

A further aim was potential specialized limits on cloud storage providers readily available on companies’ cloud infrastructure.

“We’re consistently analyzing how we can best help associates and make Microsoft application available to clients throughout all environments, which includes those people of other cloud vendors,” Microsoft explained in an emailed assertion.

EU antitrust main Margrethe Vestager earlier this 7 days said she has no issues nevertheless about cloud computing and cited the level of competition from Europe’s Gaia-X initiative.

($1 = .9060 euros)

(Crafting by Foo Yun Chee Enhancing by Monthly bill Berkrot)