{"id":5786,"date":"2025-03-05T14:27:22","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T18:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hostingdiscussion.com\/news\/?p=5786"},"modified":"2025-03-05T14:27:22","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T18:27:22","slug":"microsoft-pushes-back-as-uk-regulator-weighs-cloud-market-reforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hostingdiscussion.com\/news\/microsoft-pushes-back-as-uk-regulator-weighs-cloud-market-reforms\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft pushes back as UK regulator weighs cloud market reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"73\" data-end=\"432\"><span id=\"input-sentence~0\">A heated battle over cloud competition is unfolding in the UK, with Microsoft aggressively defending its licensing policies against complaints from rivals AWS and Google. The dispute centers on Microsoft&#8217;s software pricing for non-Azure cloud providers, a practice the UK&#8217;s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) flagged as potentially harming competition.<\/span><span id=\"input-sentence~1\"><\/p>\n<p>In a bold response, Microsoft dismissed the claims as an &#8220;extraordinary and unprecedented&#8221; attempt by its biggest cloud rivals to force regulatory intervention on pricing. According to Microsoft, AWS and Google want the CMA to cap the fees they pay to run Microsoft software on their clouds, a move Redmond argues would undermine its intellectual property rights and set an industry-wide precedent.<\/span><span id=\"input-sentence~2\"><\/p>\n<p>Microsoft&#8217;s software licensing model charges AWS and Google customers significantly more to run products like Windows Server outside of Azure, with prices reportedly up to four times higher. Google has labeled this a &#8220;software tax,&#8221; claiming it unfairly penalizes customers who choose alternatives to Azure.<\/span><span id=\"input-sentence~3\"> AWS-backed research suggests European businesses are being overcharged by billions due to Microsoft\u2019s licensing policies.<\/p>\n<p>The CMA\u2019s initial findings confirmed concerns that Microsoft\u2019s pricing approach unfairly disadvantages Azure, making competition less fair. The regulator is currently thinking about taking action, maybe against Microsoft&#8217;s licensing policies as well as more general market obstacles like egress costs and the dominance of a small number of powerful cloud providers.<\/span><span id=\"input-sentence~4\"><\/p>\n<p>Yet, Microsoft maintains that it is only a competitor in the industry, citing the fact that AWS is still the leading cloud provider in the UK, holding a dominating 50% of the \u00a39 billion cloud market in 2023. Google trails well behind Microsoft, which has a 30\u201340% share.<\/span><span id=\"input-sentence~5\"><\/p>\n<p>The company also accused Google of funding lobbying efforts through industry groups to influence regulators, claiming that its competitors are strategically positioning themselves as victims while benefiting from their own closed ecosystems. <\/span><span id=\"input-sentence~5\">Microsoft questioned whether AWS or Google license their proprietary software to competitors at all, arguing that their complaints lack merit.<\/span><span id=\"input-sentence~6\"><\/p>\n<p>The CMA&#8217;s discussions on potential regulatory measures might have an impact on the UK&#8217;s cloud ecosystem. Even though more significant adjustments might create new rules to improve competition and lessen market concentration, a decision against Microsoft might force it to reevaluate its pricing policies. Regulators expect to make a final decision in the battle for cloud dominance later this year, keeping the outcome uncertain.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A heated battle over cloud competition is unfolding in the UK, with Microsoft aggressively defending its licensing policies against complaints from rivals AWS and Google. The dispute centers on Microsoft&#8217;s software pricing for non-Azure cloud providers, a practice the UK&#8217;s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) flagged as potentially harming competition. In a bold response, Microsoft [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20624,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[1790,93,2408,213,140,3219],"class_list":["post-5786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","tag-aws","tag-cloud","tag-cloud-market","tag-google","tag-microsoft","tag-uk-cma"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Microsoft pushes back as UK regulator weighs cloud market reforms - Web Hosting News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hostingdiscussion.com\/news\/microsoft-pushes-back-as-uk-regulator-weighs-cloud-market-reforms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Microsoft pushes back as UK regulator weighs cloud market reforms - Web Hosting News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A heated battle over cloud competition is unfolding in the UK, with Microsoft aggressively defending its licensing policies against complaints from rivals AWS and Google. The dispute centers on Microsoft&#8217;s software pricing for non-Azure cloud providers, a practice the UK&#8217;s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) flagged as potentially harming competition. In a bold response, Microsoft [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hostingdiscussion.com\/news\/microsoft-pushes-back-as-uk-regulator-weighs-cloud-market-reforms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Web Hosting News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-05T18:27:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Justine Juyad\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Justine Juyad\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hostingdiscussion.com\/news\/microsoft-pushes-back-as-uk-regulator-weighs-cloud-market-reforms\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hostingdiscussion.com\/news\/microsoft-pushes-back-as-uk-regulator-weighs-cloud-market-reforms\/\",\"name\":\"Microsoft pushes back as UK regulator weighs cloud market reforms - Web Hosting News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hostingdiscussion.com\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-05T18:27:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-05T18:27:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hostingdiscussion.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/3a1732732b90f8c57c2a0ec68d3c49e3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hostingdiscussion.com\/news\/microsoft-pushes-back-as-uk-regulator-weighs-cloud-market-reforms\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/hostingdiscussion.com\/news\/microsoft-pushes-back-as-uk-regulator-weighs-cloud-market-reforms\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hostingdiscussion.com\/news\/microsoft-pushes-back-as-uk-regulator-weighs-cloud-market-reforms\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/hostingdiscussion.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Microsoft pushes back as UK regulator weighs cloud market reforms\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hostingdiscussion.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hostingdiscussion.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Web Hosting News\",\"description\":\"Cloud and web hosting industry daily news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/hostingdiscussion.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hostingdiscussion.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/3a1732732b90f8c57c2a0ec68d3c49e3\",\"name\":\"Justine Juyad\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hostingdiscussion.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96df33d01870f85226adf8492251fbefe00bc349b10bb7679b094f3fa086999c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96df33d01870f85226adf8492251fbefe00bc349b10bb7679b094f3fa086999c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Justine Juyad\"},\"description\":\"HostingDiscussion.com senior reporter\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/hostingdiscussion.com\/news\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/hostingdiscussion.com\/news\/author\/justine-juyad\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Microsoft pushes back as UK regulator weighs cloud market reforms - Web Hosting News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hostingdiscussion.com\/news\/microsoft-pushes-back-as-uk-regulator-weighs-cloud-market-reforms\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Microsoft pushes back as UK regulator weighs cloud market reforms - Web Hosting News","og_description":"A heated battle over cloud competition is unfolding in the UK, with Microsoft aggressively defending its licensing policies against complaints from rivals AWS and Google. 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