© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Smartphone is seen in entrance of Microsoft emblem displayed on this illustration taken, July 26, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Picture
By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Microsoft (NASDAQ:) faces a brand new antitrust grievance over its cloud computing practices as commerce group CISPE, whose members embrace Amazon, took its grievance to European Union antitrust regulators on Wednesday.
CISPE has alleged that Microsoft’s new contractual phrases imposed on Oct. 1 along with different practices are irreparably damaging the European cloud computing ecosystem.
Amazon is the market chief within the cloud computing sector, adopted by Microsoft and Alphabet (NASDAQ:) unit Google.
“Leveraging its dominance in productiveness software program, Microsoft restricts selection and inflates prices as European prospects look to maneuver to the cloud, thus distorting Europe’s digital financial system,” CISPE secretary basic Francisco Mingorance stated in a press release.
The corporate makes use of its dominance in productiveness software program to direct European prospects to its Azure cloud infrastructure to the drawback of European rivals, CISPE alleged in its grievance to the European Fee.
It alleged that Microsoft’s anti-competitive practices included discriminatory bundling and tying of its merchandise, self-preference pricing and locking in prospects each on the technical and aggressive degree.
Microsoft, which has been fined greater than 1.6 billion euros ($1.6 billion) by the Fee within the earlier decade for numerous antitrust violations, has beforehand stated it presents its software program to all prospects together with rival cloud suppliers.
Cloud service suppliers in Germany, Italy, Denmark and France, two of whom are members of CISPE, have filed related complaints with the Fee prior to now couple of years.
Microsoft subsequently amended licensing offers and different adjustments to make it simpler for cloud service suppliers to compete beginning Oct. 1 in a bid to stave off EU antitrust issues.
Rivals Amazon.com (NASDAQ:), Alphabet’s Google, Alibaba (NYSE:) and Microsoft’s personal cloud providers nevertheless are excluded from the adjustments.
CISPE stated the EU competitors watchdog ought to sort out the problem by making use of the commerce physique’s rules of honest software program licensing devised final yr to Microsoft.
It stated an impartial European Observatory may very well be set as much as audit dominant software program corporations’ licensing phrases.
The Fee might additionally add one other provision to newly adopted tech guidelines, generally known as the Digital Markets Act, prohibiting cloud computing gatekeepers from favouring their software program functions, CISPE stated.
($1 = 0.9909 euros)
