- CMA launches investigation into strategic Microsoft software market situation, which could take nine months
- British regulators are concerned that the company is bundling its software to gain an unfair advantage.
- Microsoft has already reached an agreement with the CMA on cloud interoperability
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced that it will launch a Strategic Market Status (SMS) investigation into Microsoft’s software in May 2026, likely covering the Windows operating system, Office productivity software and the Copilot AI assistant.
It was Copilot more than others that likely motivated this action, with the CMA seeking to ensure a level playing field by preventing Microsoft from gaining an unfair advantage.
As always, CMA’s focus here is on interoperability, seeking a solution that allows customers to mix and match AI and productivity tools from multiple vendors.
Article continues below
Microsoft faces another anti-monopoly investigation
On the cloud front, Microsoft has already promised to improve interoperability and remove cloud egress fees to make it easier for UK customers to switch or use multi-cloud setups, but CMA is now focusing on the company’s productivity software.
“We have seen real progress through our engagement with Microsoft and Amazon to make significant improvements to egress fees and interoperability and we expect more action from them in the coming months,” wrote Managing Director Sarah Cardell.
Mark Boost, CEO of UK-based cloud provider Civo, welcomed the survey’s intentions but criticized it for “not providing data”.[ing] adequate solutions to address the serious problems associated with the dominance of these key foreign-based hyperscalers. »
The CMA’s Cardell envisions a process by which the body could make a rapid and proportionate impact on the cloud and software markets to save customers money in real time, but with SMS likely to take up to nine months, we are unlikely to see an immediate impact.
Microsoft says it has already waived exit fees globally for customers switching providers, offering them a free 180-day switching window (up from 60) as well as free data transfers.
Company President Brad Smith also explained that Microsoft agrees with the principles of moving workloads freely, running them across multiple clouds, and avoiding vendor lock-in.
“We are committed to working quickly and constructively to resolve these issues, including providing all the information the CMA needs to progress its reviews,” Mr Smith explained.
Smith also called attention to Google, a company that has previously filed complaints about the dominance of Microsoft and Amazon. Google Cloud revenue grew 48% last quarter (compared to the company’s overall revenue growth of 18%), while AWS and Microsoft Cloud revenue grew to a much lesser extent, from 24% to 26% during the same quarter.
Follow TechRadar on Google News And add us as your favorite source to get our news, reviews and expert opinions in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can too follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp Also.
