The CMA’s investigation, launched under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA), has been examining concerns about restrictive practices by dominant cloud providers. These include high egress fees, licensing restrictions, and limited interoperability, which critics argue create barriers to competition and innovation.
Nicky Stewart, senior advisor at the Open Cloud Coalition, praised the CMA’s focus on addressing anti-competitive practices.
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“The CMA’s provisional decision shines a welcome spotlight on anti-competitive practices in the cloud market, which lock in customers and harm free, fair competition,” she said. Stewart urged swift action, highlighting the economic impact of delays.
“Every month that passes without action is another missed opportunity for innovation and UK economic growth. Every pound spent on restrictive licensing markups and egress fees is a pound not spent on growing the UK's economy.”
The Open Cloud Coalition, an advocacy group promoting competition and resilience in the cloud industry, called for greater collaboration across the sector to advance openness and fair practices.
Stewart emphasised the need for a competitive ecosystem that enables businesses of all sizes to access cutting-edge technologies.
Paul Mackay, RVP Cloud EMEA & APAC at Cloudera, also welcomed the CMA’s intervention, noting that current market conditions hinder customers’ ability to move data between cloud environments.
“Many organisations will welcome the preliminary findings from the CMA, as technical and financial hurdles have limited customers’ ability to move data from one cloud environment to another and hindered their ability to unlock the potential of cloud,” he said.
However, Mackay tempered expectations of a rapid shift in the market. “Irrespective of the final verdict, we are unlikely to see a switching frenzy.
“In reality, we’re more likely to see customers moving subsets of data between clouds rather than full-scale migrations.”
He added that while overcoming vendor lock-in is essential, technical challenges remain significant. “The challenge for customers will be having the technical capability and skills to securely move data at will. Migrating data between cloud environments will remain a time-consuming, costly endeavour, but overcoming this self-imposed lock-in will be a vital next step.”
Amazon Web Services (AWS), meanwhile, has voiced strong objections to the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) provisional findings in its ongoing investigation into the cloud services market.
The CMA’s findings come at a time of growing reliance on cloud services across all sectors of the economy, making competition and flexibility in the market a critical priority.
As the regulator works toward its final report, expected later this year, the industry awaits further clarity on how these recommendations could reshape the UK cloud market.
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