Microsoft has offered to reform its cloud computing practices in a bid to settle antitrust complaints and avoid an EU probe.
Reuters, which has reported on the latest developments, said an EU antitrust investigation could result in a fine as large as ten percent of its global turnover.
Microsoft is believed to have put together a new “concrete proposal”. It builds on the company president’s announcement last year, which promised to help cloud providers offer Windows and Office directly and revise licensing deals to give customers with greater freedom to buy and use their licenses.
A spokesperson for Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE), a trade group with members including, Amazon, the market leader of cloud computing, said:
“We’ve had an initial discussion with Microsoft but have not seen anything that suggests changes that will ensure that all European customers have the chance to run the software they want, in the cloud of their choice, free of unfair license terms or discriminatory pricing.
“As such, we will continue to pursue our complaint.”
The EU antitrust watchdog and OVHcloud have so far refused to comment. The Danish Cloud Community and Aruba have not yet responded to requests for comment.
Microsoft said it made changes to its licensing practices in October, after feedback from European cloud providers.
A spokesperson for Microsoft, commented on its licensing updates: “We are grateful for the productive conversations that led us there and appreciate the feedback that we have received since.”
OVHcloud, a French computing services provider, Aruba, an Italian cloud service provider, and the Danish Cloud Community had all complained to the European Commission about Microsoft’s cloud computing and licensing practices.
The Commission, whose job it is to ensure fair competition within the EU, has fined Microsoft around $1.7 billion over the past decade.
Nextcloud made its case against Microsoft to the European Commission in 2021, focusing on the U.S. company’s bundling OneDrive services with Windows 10 and 11, which it sees as an abuse of its market dominance. The case soon turned into a campaign as 30 European software companies joined the fight, calling themselves a ‘coalition for a level playing field’.
This week, Nextcloud announced that the German Bundeskartellamt (federal antitrust authorities) have opened an official investigation into Microsoft to assess its market dominance.
Frank Karlitschek, CEO and founder of Nextcloud GmbH, said:
“Microsoft continues to act as a gatekeeper, picking the winners and losers. And of course, its own services benefit immensely from this, getting shielded from the competition.
“This brazen effort of promoting its own services at the expense of competitors and distorting the market in their favour harms the consumer, the wider market, and European businesses and threatens the digital sovereignty of countries.
“Together with our coalition members, we call upon the German and EU authorities to enforce a level playing field, giving consumers choice and competition a fair chance.
In December 2022, Microsoft sought to settle with the EU Commission over a complaint of “crushing competition” lodged by Slack in July 2020.
