Other · ongoing · ~6 min read
CMA cloud infrastructure market investigation
2023–present · cloud infrastructure
Britain investigated the big cloud providers and moved the issue into its new conduct-rules system. That follow-on work was still open in 2026, beside a separate EU look at AWS and Azure.
The story
Egress fees, software licenses, and spend discounts are the three complaints.
The CMA's market investigation was the fact-finding. Strategic market status is the tool that would impose rules.
Europe is looking at the same two clouds under the DMA. The files are not copies of each other.
Why it matters
Companies locked into one cloud pay the switching cost.
Rival clouds say Microsoft's licenses are the sharpest issue.
What was claimed
Switching barriers entrench AWS and Azure.
Licensing can favor Microsoft's own cloud.
The other side
The clouds say discounts and integrated software are competition, and that customers multi-home.
What it means for you
Consumer apps do not move because a market investigation exists.
IT buyers should watch conduct requirements, which are not in force just because a report was published.
Bottom line
The UK cloud investigation's follow-on SMS work is still live. It is parallel to, not the same as, the EU DMA cloud file.
Timeline
2023
CMA opens the market investigation
Ofcom referred cloud infrastructure to the CMA after finding features that could limit switching.
2025–2026
From report to conduct rules
The live question became whether Amazon and Microsoft would face strategic market status conduct requirements. That is unfinished regulatory work, not a closed infringement.
Key dates
- Market investigation
- 2023–2025
- SMS follow-on
- 2025–2026
Formal snapshot
Summary: The UK CMA investigated cloud infrastructure, with egress fees, licensing, and committed-spend discounts aimed especially at Amazon and Microsoft. Follow-on strategic market status work continued into 2026.
Regulator / plaintiff argument: Switching costs, software licensing that favors one cloud, and committed spend can entrench the two largest infrastructure clouds.
Outcome: The market investigation's findings fed SMS work rather than a one-time fine. EU DMA cloud investigations of AWS and Azure are a parallel file. Neither had produced a final conduct code that ended the issue by October 2026.
Conduct tags
Laws referenced
- UK Competition Act 1998 Chapter I — Competition Act 1998, Ch. I
Companies
Reader signals
0 reads · synced via local demo storage — add NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_* to enable shared likes and comments
Comments
No comments yet — start the thread.