The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will launch an investigation into Microsoft’s business software ecosystem in May. The probe aims to determine if the company should receive a strategic market status (SMS) designation.
Regulators will scrutinize the market power of Windows, Office, and the Teams communication app. These products currently serve hundreds of thousands of UK businesses.
An SMS designation would grant the CMA broad powers to impose new conduct rules on Microsoft to ensure fair competition. The investigation stems from a previous market study into cloud services.
That study raised concerns that Microsoft’s software licensing practices could be harming competition in the UK cloud infrastructure market. Separately, Microsoft and Amazon have taken steps to address cloud data transfer fees following engagement with the regulator.