According to the latest report published on Tuesday, the draft EU regulations limiting the powers of Amazon, Apple, Alphabet subsidiary Google and Facebook should also target potential anti-competitive behaviors of cloud computing service providers.
The research report was prepared by Frederic Jenny, Chairman of the Commission for Economic Cooperation, Development, and Competition, in his personal capacity for the European Cloud Infrastructure Service Provider (CISPE), a trade organization.
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At present, some EU lawmakers are reviewing the digital market bill proposed by EU antitrust director Margaret Vestal. The report coincides with their concerns. There are concerns that EU lawmakers may be more tolerant of cloud computing companies.
Jenny said in an interview that the “Digital Market Act” does indicate that cloud infrastructure can be covered by the Act, but not all vendors are covered. For example, the Act believes that Google Cloud does not seem to meet the standards of the Act, or IBM Cloud, Salesforce.
He said that the research report investigated about 25 companies using cloud computing services, some of which mentioned unfair licensing terms and other issues. He also said that some companies’ potential anti-competitive behavior may include unfair pricing techniques, or make it technically difficult for users to switch to their competitors.
Moreover, there is also concern that vendors will bundle software products with their cloud infrastructure to reduce the attractiveness of competitors’ products or increase their prices.
