Amazon and Microsoft claim UK’s anti-monopoly moves risk investments


















Between them, US tech giants Amazon, Microsoft and Google account for more than 80pc of the market in the UK.

Microsoft also hit out at the regulator, arguing that restrictions on pricing practices could “very well… leave UK enterprises and public sector customers worse off”.

It added that another proposal, to enforce technical standards to make switching easier, could “chill investment”.

Ofcom’s warned that cloud computing customers had complained they were hit with high fees when they tried to move data from one provider to another.

In its submission, Amazon argued it was “not the case” that it charged higher exit fees. Microsoft said its fees were “transparent and clear”.

An Ofcom spokesman said: “We will carefully consider all views on our provisional findings in our interim report.” 

The final report is due to be published in October.

An Amazon Web Services spokesman said: “The regulatory interventions proposed would be unwarranted, and could lead to significant unintended harm to customers and competition.”

Microsoft declined to comment beyond its consultation submission.

The row comes as Microsoft is locked in talks with the CMA to salvage its $69bn takeover of the Call of Duty videogames developer Activision. 

The regulator initially blocked the transaction, arguing it would hamper competition in video game streaming. It led Microsoft to angrily declare that Britain was no longer as attractive as Europe for starting a tech business.

The CMA and Microsoft are now discussing a restructuring that could green light the merger. 





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