- CMA says that the cloud market in the United Kingdom is not very competitive
- AWS and Microsoft represent 30-40% of the United Kingdom market each
- The two companies do not agree with the CMA findings
The United Kingdom Competition and Market Authority (CMA) has determined that the Great Britain cloud market shows too many anti-competitive features, with Microsoft and AWS that have around 30-40% of the United Kingdom market in 2024 and the hyperscalera concentration especially high in infrastructure as a service.
At the same time, less than 1% of customers change supplier annually and multicloud use is rare (particularly among SMEs with more limited budgets).
The CMA has blamed high output rates, incompatible interfaces, latency gaps and skills for the generalized blocking of the supplier, which is finally weakening competition.
CMA worried about AWS and Microsoft Cloud Market Domain
Behind the two hyperscalers, Google represents only 5-10% of the market, and others such as IBM and Oracle have even smaller actions. Although the abilities of AI have not yet drastically changed market dynamics, it is likely that existing positions will be amplified, therefore, the CMA has intervened to ensure that competition remains healthy.
In its final decision, the CMA received the greatest successes in Microsoft for its unfair license practices, which makes it more expensive to execute the Microsoft software in rival cloud suppliers.
A Microsoft spokesman said Techradar Pro: “The most recent publication of the CMA panel loses the brand again, ignoring that the cloud market has never been so dynamic and competitive, with record investment and rapid changes driven by AI. Its recommendations do not cover Google, one of the most rapidly growing cloud market participants.”
“Microsoft hopes to work with the Digital Markets Unit for a result that reflects the current competition in the cloud that benefits the clients of the United Kingdom,” they continued.
“The action proposed by the research group is unjustified and undermines the substantial investment and innovation that has already benefited hundreds of thousands of companies in the United Kingdom,” added an AWS spokesman.
On the other hand, Google supported the findings of the CMA: “The conclusive finding that the restrictive license damages customers and cloud competition is a moment of water for the United Kingdom.”
In other parts of the industry, the CMA has been criticized for not acting quickly enough and addressing persistent problems such as cloud loans, blocking and acquisition bias.
“We urge the CMA to use the powers at your disposal now to address these damages, instead of embarking on a new research that may not give relief to customers in the coming years,” shared the executive director of the coalition for the Licenses of Fair Software, Ryan Triplette.
Looking towards the future, the next step of the CMA is to designate Microsoft and AWS with the strategic state of the market (SMS) under the digital law Markets, competence and consumers (DMCC), which allows it to impose legally linked behavior requirements and aimed at the two giants.
“A significant driver of high computing invoices in the cloud is market consolidation in a handful of players. Until recent Cloud ticket in the positions of EGRSS, “he noticed.
“The United Kingdom companies are under large cost pressures. We need to facilitate the change of cloud computer suppliers and find price options that best fit their balances.”
