CMA Delays Cloud Computing Report Until 2025

The leading cloud computing players will have to wait until after the Christmas period, to see the conclusions of the British competition regulator about the current market.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) updated its administrative timetable on Wednesday that revealed the regulator will deliver its provisional decision in January 2025, rather than the previously slated December 2024.

A final report into the cloud computing market is still expected to arrive in July 2025, which will confirm whether “behavioural” remedies are required to address competition concerns on this side of the Atlantic.

Cloud computing market

The UK probe into the cloud computing sector began in September 2022, when Ofcom had announced it would “examine the position of Amazon, Microsoft and Google in cloud services,” as part of a “new programme of work to ensure that digital communications markets are working well for people and businesses in the UK.”

A year later in October 2023 Ofcom announced that its market study had “uncovered features that could limit competition in the cloud segment”.

It therefore asked the CMA to investigate Amazon and Microsoft’s dominance of the UK cloud market, and to a lesser extent, Google Cloud Platform.

The cloud computing market is dominated by the two American tech giants (Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure).

The sector also involves a number of smaller service providers such as Google Cloud Platform, Oracle Cloud, IBM Cloud and others.

Some reports have suggested that the British regulator may just concentrate on AWS and Microsoft, given their market leading position.

US investigations

It should be noted that on the other side of the pond, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said last week it is launching a ‘sweeping investigation’ into Microsoft’s practices, confirming earlier reports of a possible investigation.

The wide-ranging FTC investigation will reportedly focus on Microsoft’s software licensing, cybersecurity, and AI, but may include cloud computing.

A £1 billion lawsuit was filed this week in London against Microsoft, alleging the software giant has been overcharging cloud customers to license Windows Server, if they opt to use a cloud platform other than Microsoft Azure.

The FTC is also investigating Amazon, after the American regulator alleged the firm had engaged in a ‘deceptive’ Prime sign-up and cancellation process for millions of customers.

The US DoJ is also investigating Google, and recommended that the search engine giant sell off its Chrome browser.