MICROSOFT FACES ANTITRUST COMPLAINT IN SPAIN OVER CLOUD SERVICES
(Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. has been accused of anti-competitive behavior in a new complaint filed to the Spanish antitrust regulator amid growing scrutiny of the technology giant’s power in the cloud computing market.
Asociación Española de Startups, which represents 700 companies and counts as partners Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Amazon Web Services, the cloud unit of Amazon.com Inc., filed a formal complaint with competition regulator CNMC on Monday, alleging that Microsoft is leveraging its dominance in the software market to force the use of its cloud services.
The group argues that the technical and contractual barriers imposed by Microsoft are “significantly affecting both cloud providers and cloud customers within the startup ecosystem in Spain and their international growth,” and urged the regulator to carry out an investigation.
Read More: Microsoft Faces South African Complaint as Cloud Probes Grow (1)
The accusation is based on long-standing criticism that Microsoft sets unfair terms and prohibitively expensive prices to run Windows or applications like the Office software package on competitors’ cloud infrastructure. The opposition has picked up steam recently with Microsoft’s Azure cloud business being targeted by regulators around the world, including the European Union, the UK and South Africa.
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2024-05-07T08:05:31Z dg43tfdfdgfd
