- The British cloud market dominated by AWS and Microsoft, says CMA
- The British cloud sector “does not work as well as it could be”
- Amazon disputes the provisional conclusions
After launching its investigation into the British cloud market in 2024, competition and authority markets (CMA) initially declared that Microsoft and Amazon unjustly dominate the scene.
The CMA claims that the effects of the two companies in the sector therefore have an impact on competition, which leads to higher costs, a reduction in choice, less innovation and a lower quality of service for British companies.
This is a big news for an island nation that spent 9 billion pounds sterling for cloud services in 2023 – a figure that continues to increase 30% per year.
CMA says Amazon, Microsoft dominates the British cloud market
The first provisional conclusions of the CMA survey revealed that Amazon and Microsoft each have a share of “up to 40%” of the expenses of British customers for cloud services – considerably more than Google, in third place.
Similar to other recent European results, the technical and commercial obstacles determined by the AMC make it difficult for customers to change their suppliers, but moreover, other service providers and Cloud startups are confronted with large requirements of capital investment and other obstacles that prevent them from contesting hyperscalers.
“Our provisional opinion is that competition on this market does not work as well as it could be,” said Kip Meek, president of the CMA independent research group.
Matthew Sinclair, Senior Director of the CCIA, a professional non -profit association, said: “The unjust license terms for inherited software, such as Office Suites, cost British users a fortune. The ACM must move quickly to act on its conclusion and to resolve a long -standing obstacle to the choice for users of certain cloud suppliers. »»
Sinclair added that Great Britain benefits from “healthy competition” in other IT sectors, including new investments in AI.
Google, which is not affected by the scope of the survey, replied. His vice-president for EMEA customer engineering at Google Cloud, Chris Lindsay, said: “We will continue to commit ourselves constructively with ACM to support the opening, innovation and growth of the British cloud market . Restrictive licenses harm British cloud customers, threaten economic growth and stifle innovation, and we are encouraged that the AMC has recognized the damage of these practices. “”
An AWS spokesperson added: “The intervention proposed under the 2024 law on digital markets, competition and consumers (DMCCA) is not justified. The evidence shows that the IT services industry is very competitive. Cloud computing has reduced costs for British companies with remuneration and prices, a choice of expanded product and increased competition and innovation. »»
They continued: “But we urge the CMA to carefully examine how regulatory intervention in other areas will stifle innovation and, ultimately, harm customers in the United Kingdom.”
We have not yet heard of Microsoft with regard to the results of the CMA, but we contacted the company to comment.
