UK Regulators Soon to Announce Anti-competitive Rule to Clampdown US Cloud Giants
The UK regulators and CMA is reportedly set to announce soon the anti-competitive “behavioral” remedies to clampdown U.S. cloud giants Amazon, Microsoft and Google’s dominance.
In this recent cloud industry update, The UK’s Competition and Market Authority (CMA) is reportedly preparing remedies to tackle the competition issues in the nation. These measures would address the recent dominance by U.S. cloud giants Amazon, Microsoft and Google in UK’s Cloud market.
In 2022, UK telecoms regulator Ofcom examines the dominance of U.S. cloud giants Amazon, Microsoft and Google. Ofcom referred its cloud review to CMA to address the competition issues in the market.
According to one of the sources, there’s a chance Google may be excluded from the scope of the competition remedies given it is smaller in size compared to market leaders Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure.
When Will the Remedies be Published?
The Competition and Markets Authority is set to unveil its provisional decision detailing “behavioral” remedies addressing anti-competitive practices in the sector following a months-long investigation into the market, two sources familiar with the matter told CNBC.
The sources revealed that the cloud market remedies could be announced within the next two weeks. Whereas the regulators previously mentioned a period from November to December 2024 to publish its provisional decision.
What Measures Could CMA Take?
- In June, CMA said that they were more minded toward considering behavioral remedies to resolve the concern.
- CMA opposed structural remedies, such as ordering divestments or operational separations.
- One measure the regulator said it was considering was requiring Microsoft to apply the same pricing for its software regardless of which cloud it’s hosted on. This move would have a significant impact on Microsoft’s pricing structures.
- Then restricting the level of egress fees.
- Lowering barriers to switching cloud providers.
- Banning agreements that encourage firms to commit more spending in return for discount
What Did CMA Executive Say?
In a speech Thursday at U.K. policy thinktank Chatham House, CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell announced plans for a review in 2025 into the regulator’s approach to approving mergers. In an interview with the Financial Times published earlier in the day, she defended the regulator’s track record on competition enforcement amid criticisms from Prime Minister Keir Starmer that the agency was holding back growth.
