Cloud Computing Anti-Competitive Practices Curbed By New Laws: Report

Draft EU rules to curb the power of Amazon, Apple, Alphabet unit Google, and Facebook should also tackle providers of cloud computing services for possible anti-competitive practices, a study claimed on Tuesday, October 27.

The report comes amid concerns that some EU lawmakers who are reviewing the Digital Markets Act (DMA) proposed by EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager may be lenient towards cloud computing companies.

Amazon’s Amazon Web Services was the leading provider in the second quarter, followed by Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, market research company Statista found. Others include IBMCloud, Alibaba Cloud, Salesforce, and Oracle.

Frederic Jenny, chairman of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Competition Committee, put together the study, in his personal capacity, for trade body Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE).

Related: CPI Talks… Frederic Jenny

The new EU rules should also cover software licensing, the report stated, with respondents citing unfair terms imposed by some of the big software companies to access their cloud infrastructure.

“The DMA does say that cloud infrastructure can come within the ambit of the DMA but it is not obvious that all the suppliers are covered,” Jenny told Reuters in an interview.

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