UK launches probe into cloud giants’ dominance
CMA’s inquiry group will now carry out an investigation to determine whether competition in this market is working well and if not what action should be taken to address any issues it finds
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Stifling Competition
• UK media regulator Ofcom refers cloud market to CMA for probe
• AWS and Microsoft control 70-80% of UK cloud market
• It is difficult to switch cloud services in UK, found Ofcom study
London: UK media regulator Ofcom on Thursday referred the public cloud infrastructure services market to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for an independent investigation to further examine US tech giants Amazon and Microsoft's dominance of the cloud market in the country.
In its market study, Ofcom identified a number of features in the supply of cloud services that make it more difficult for customers to switch and use multiple cloud suppliers. Ofcom has estimated that the market for cloud services in the UK was worth up to 7.5 billion pounds in 2022.
“We welcome Ofcom’s referral of public cloud infrastructure services to us for in-depth scrutiny. This is a 7.5 billion pounds market that underpins a whole host of online services - from social media to AI foundation models,” said Sarah Cardell, CEO of the CMA.
