A group of cloud infrastructure providers in Europe, consisting of 27 member organizations, has delivered a stern ultimatum to Microsoft, demanding an end to what they allege are “unjustified feature and pricing discriminations against fair competition.”
The news is a continuation of the antitrust complaint filed against Microsoft by the Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE), a non-profit group based in Brussels, in November 2022.
The complaint accuses Microsoft for engaging in discriminatory practices by offering discounts on its own software when bundled with Azure cloud services, making it more expensive for competitors to run Microsoft’s products in their own clouds.
Microsoft’s European cloud case is far from over
Negotiations between CISPE and the Redmond giant have reportedly recently resumed, prompting the European body to intensify the pressure on Microsoft by threatening legal consequences.
Using the Azure Pricing Calculator, CISPE highlighted disparities in costs, asserting that even with lower hardware costs, supporting the same number of users with Microsoft software is substantially more expensive for CISPE members.
Francisco Mingorance, CISPE’s Secretary General, commented on the nature of the ongoing case: “The unjustified feature and pricing discriminations imposed by Microsoft on its dominant software, Office and Windows, outside of Azure, squeeze the margins of rival cloud infrastructure providers, lock in customers and raise prices.”
This latest cloud development adds to the existing scrutiny of Microsoft’s practices, with both the EU antitrust body and the US FTC conducting investigations into the company’s cloud licensing terms. Despite being under the microscope itself, AWS has also raised concerns about Microsoft’s practices, together with Google, which filed a complaint with the UK’s CMA in December 2023.
A Microsoft spokesperson told TechRadar Pro in an email:
"This information is outdated, adds nothing new, and appears to be more of the same advocacy funded by Amazon seeking to maintain its market position. We continue to focus on working with European cloud providers to resolve any concerns they have."
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