TU IS
Alphabet’s Google Cloud (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) has accused Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) of anti-competitive cloud computing practices and slammed upcoming deals with several European cloud vendors, claiming that they do not address broader concerns about its licencing terms, Reuters reported Thursday.
Google Cloud Vice President Amit Zavery told Reuters that the company has raised the issue with antitrust agencies and urged European Union antitrust regulators to take a closer look in its first public comments on Microsoft and its European deals.
Microsoft responded by citing a blog post from May of last year in which its president Brad Smith stated that the company “has a healthy number two position in cloud services, with just over 20% market share of global cloud services revenues.”
“We are committed to the success of the European Cloud Community,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Reuters on Thursday.
Because of the dominance of a few players and its increasingly critical role as more and more companies shift their services to the cloud, the sector has recently drawn increased regulatory scrutiny, including in the United States and the United Kingdom.
A person with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters this week that Microsoft has offered to change its cloud computing practices in exchange for a few smaller rivals suspending their antitrust complaints.
However, Microsoft is still facing another EU antitrust complaint from CISPE, which includes Amazon as a member.
