Ofcom proposes to refer U.K. cloud market for investigation

At the halfway point of its probe into UK cloud services, Ofcom is proposing to refer the market to the Competition and Markets Authority for further investigation. "Our market study has provisionally identified features and practices that make it more difficult for customers to switch and use multiple cloud suppliers. We are particularly concerned about the practices of Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT) because of their market position… We are concerned that constraints on customers’ ability to use more than one provider could make it harder for smaller cloud providers to win business and compete with the market leaders… We are inviting feedback on our interim findings, and on our proposal to make a market investigation reference into the supply of cloud infrastructure services in the UK, by 17 May 2023. We intend to publish a final report setting out our findings and recommendations, including our decision on a market investigation reference, by no later than 5 October 2023." Reference Link