The
U.K.’s Office of Communications (Ofcom), the country’s communications
regulator, is proposing a referral to the U.K.’s Competition and Markets
Authority (CMA) to conduct an investigation into the cloud market due to its concerns over the dominance that Amazon and Microsoft currently hold over the sector.
Together, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft comprise 60%-70% of the U.K.’s cloud market.
- After completing half of its yearlong market study
into U.K. cloud services, Ofcom stated that it had “significant
concerns” regarding “behaviors by some providers that could raise
barriers to switch and use of multiple providers.” The “behaviors” refer
to egress fees, limiting the use of third-party platforms, and discount
incentives that could disrupt competition.
- The
regulator said it has found “reasonable grounds to suspect that there
are features in the public cloud infrastructure services market that may
have an adverse effect on competition in the U.K.” and has given cloud
companies operating in the country until May 17 to respond to its
proposal.
- The
agency announced that it would release a final report on its findings
and will make its final decision on the CMA referral by Oct. 5, 2023.
