UK Competition Authority Rains on Microsoft and Amazon Cloud Parade

Britain's Competition and Markets Authority concluded that Microsoft and Amazon hold 'significant unilateral market power' in cloud services and recommended investigating both companies under new competition rules. The regulator said it had concerns about practices creating customer 'lock-in' effects through egress fees and unfavorable licensing terms that trap businesses in difficult-to-exit contracts.

Microsoft and Amazon each control roughly 30-40% of the infrastructure-as-a-service market, while Google holds 5-10%. Microsoft disputed the findings, calling the cloud market 'dynamic and competitive.' Amazon said the probe recommendations were 'unwarranted.'

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