Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

According to news in the afternoon of September 22, Beijing time, the British Communications Authority (Ofcom), the UK's digital media regulator, said today that it would launch an antitrust investigation into the cloud services of Amazon, Google and Microsoft.

Ofcom, which oversees broadcasting, communications and postal services, said today it would conduct a series of investigations into the digital market, including cloud computing, Internet communications and smart devices. This represents a new step for UK regulators in vetting big US technology companies.

Ofcom said it would first investigate AWS (AMZN), Azure (MSFT) and Google's cloud services to assess whether they limit innovation and hinder fair competition and development in the industry. The UK public cloud infrastructure market is about 15 billion pounds ($16.85 billion), while cloud services from the three companies account for about 81 per cent of revenue, according to Ofcom.

Ofcom plans to complete the review within the next 12 months and release a final report that will include concerns and recommendations. If Ofcom finds that the three companies are hurting competition, it may take further action. Ofcom executive Selena Chadha (Selina Chadha) also pointed out that Ofcom has not yet reached an agreement on "whether these cloud giants engage in anti-competitive behavior."

Amazon, Google and Microsoft have yet to comment.

In addition to cloud services, Ofcom plans to investigate other digital markets next year, including personal messaging (personal messaging) and virtual assistants (such as Amazon Alexa). Ofcom said it was interested in how services such as Meta's WhatsApp and Apple's Facetime and Zoom affected traditional call and messaging, as well as competition in the digital assistant, connected TV and smart speaker markets.

"the way we live, work, play and do business has been changed by digital services," Chadha said in a statement. But with the growing number of platforms, devices and networks that serve content, so do the technical and economic problems faced by regulators. That's why we launched this survey, to review these digital markets, to identify any competition issues, and to ensure that these services are fair and friendly to the people and businesses that depend on them. "

Currently, Microsoft's cloud services are facing a formal investigation by the European Commission. In March, Microsoft's cloud computing business was complained by three European competitors that Microsoft undermined fair competition in the cloud computing service market and limited consumers' choices.

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