Microsoft Facing Cloud-Based Antitrust Complaints in Italy, Denmark

Italian cloud provider Aruba SpA and several Denmark-based cloud providers have filed a complaint against Microsoft Corp with the European Union’s antitrust watchdog, charging Microsoft with undermining its competition and limiting consumers’ cloud computing services choice, Bloomberg reported Wednesday (April 13).

France’s OVH was the only one of the three cloud providers named when the consortium filed the complaint last year, the report says.

Microsoft customers have regularly groused about having to pay more to use Windows and Office when the programs are running through rival cloud computing systems to Microsoft’s Azure, a practice that Bloomberg says shows Microsoft is using its power in one market to undercut competitors in another geographic region.

An Aruba SpA spokesman told Bloomberg it’s part of OVH’s complaint, while people familiar with the situation said Danish Cloud Community, a group of cloud providers in Denmark, is also part of it.

“Especially when it comes to the European cloud providers, we just have not been engaged in enough direct conversation with them,” said Microsoft President Brad Smith in an earlier interview. “I don’t think there’s been anything close to the level of dialogue that we need to pursue to solve this problem.

“One of the lessons for the future is we need as a company to prioritize at a higher level how we work with and support these European cloud providers,” he said.

Related: EU Regulators Scrutinize Microsoft’s Cloud Business, Practices

Earlier this month, Reuters reported Microsoft is facing scrutiny from regulators in the European Union over its cloud business and licensing deals. The European Commission fined Microsoft roughly 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) over various violations of antitrust rules in the past decade.

In the most recent action, EU antitrust regulators are asking the company’s customers and competitors about its cloud business and its licensing deals through a questionnaire and German software provider NextCloud and three other companies have also filed complaints about Microsoft’s cloud practices.