UK government says Microsoft and AWS unfairly dominate the cloud market
UK government says Microsoft and AWS unfairly dominate the cloud market
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CMA targets AWS, Microsoft. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. After launching its investigation into the UK cloud market in 2024, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has initially declared both Microsoft and Amazon are unfairly dominating the scene.
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The CMA says the two companies’ effects on the sector are therefore impacting competition, leading to higher costs, reduced choice, less innovation and poorer service quality for UK businesses. This is big news for an island nation that spent £9 billion on cloud services in 2023 – a figure that continues to rise 30% annually.
Early provisional findings from the CMA inquiry found Amazon and Microsoft each have a share of “up to 40%” of UK customer spend on cloud services – considerably more than Google, in third place. Similar to other recent European findings, the CMA determined technical and commercial barriers make it challenging for customers to switch providers, but moreover, other cloud service providers and startups are faced with large capital investment requirements and other barriers that prevent them from challenging the hyperscalers.
“Our provisional view is that competition in this market is not working as well as it could be," noted Kip Meek, chair of the CMA’s independent inquiry group. Matthew Sinclair, Senior Director of not-for-profit trade association CCIA, said: “Unfair licensing terms for legacy software, such as office suites, are costing UK users a fortune. The CMA needs to move quickly to act on its finding, and to address a longstanding barrier to choice for users of certain cloud providers.”.
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