BRUSSELS, July 10 (Reuters) – Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab has clinched a 20-million-euro ($21.7 million) deal to settle an antitrust complaint about its cloud computing licensing practices, averting an EU antitrust investigation and potential hefty fine.
Cloud services organisation CISPE, whose members include Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab and a score of small EU cloud providers, complained to the European Commission in late 2022 alleging that contractual terms imposed by Microsoft on Oct. 1 were harming Europe’s cloud computing ecosystem.
Microsoft ranks behind market leader Amazon in the multibillion-dollar cloud computing sector but ahead of Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O), opens new tab Google. The industry has drawn antitrust scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic.
“After working with CISPE and its European members for more than a year, I am pleased that we’ve not only resolved their concerns of the past, but also worked together to define a path forward that brings even more competition to the cloud computing market in Europe and beyond,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said.
Microsoft will develop a product allowing CISPE’s members to run Microsoft software on their platforms on the U.S. tech giant’s Azure cloud infrastructure with prices equivalent to Microsoft’s prices, CISPE said. It has nine months to deliver.
Microsoft will also compensate CISPE members for lost revenues related to their licensing costs over the last two years, the group said. It did not disclose financial figures.