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The UK’s communications regulator has referred the cloud computing market to the competition watchdog for a formal investigation after a study raised concerns about industry leaders Amazon and Microsoft.
Ofcom has asked the Competition and Markets Authority to launch an inquiry, saying it is “particularly concerned about the position of the market leaders Amazon and Microsoft”.
Cloud computing, or the delivery of IT services such as data storage and computing power over the internet with a pay-as-you-go pricing structure, is widely used by businesses and has emerged as a major piece of infrastructure in the development of the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI) models.
Fergal Farragher, the Ofcom director who oversaw the watchdog’s study into the cloud market, said companies had expressed concerns about the difficulty of switching or mixing and matching cloud providers. He said industries ranging from TV production to telecoms networks and AI “rely on remote computer power that goes unseen”.
“Some UK businesses have told us they’re concerned about it being too difficult to switch or mix and match cloud provider, and it’s not clear that competition is working well,” he said in a statement. “So, we’re referring the market to the CMA for further scrutiny, to make sure business customers continue to benefit from cloud services.”
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