Investigation Launched by European Union into Microsoft’s Use of Teams
Concerns about potential anti-competitive behavior have led the European Commission to launch an antitrust investigation into Microsoft’s inclusion of its Teams communication app alongside its widely used Office suite.
The investigation, which aims to find out whether the US software giant is “misusing and defending its market position” in practice, comes as computer users have massively adopted online virtual meetings since the coronavirus pandemic.
“Remote communication and collaboration tools like Teams have become essential for many companies in Europe,” said the Commission’s antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager.
“That’s why we need to ensure that the market for these products remains competitive and companies are free to choose the products that best suit their needs,” he said.
Teams is a platform that allows users to communicate through messaging, video calling, and file sharing.
Competing communication platforms include Zoom, Google Meet and Cisco Webex.
Microsoft combines Teams with its cloud-based Office 365 and Microsoft 365 packages.
The commission said the move to cloud-based platforms and applications has allowed more players to enter the market, noting that such software tends to be subscription-based, locking users in for the long term.
It stressed that Microsoft’s cloud-based software was “well-established” and combining Teams with them could “restrict competition” in Europe.
“The Commission is concerned that Microsoft may be giving Teams a distribution advantage by not giving customers a choice about whether to include access to that product when they order their productivity software, and that may have limited the interoperability of its productivity software with competing offerings,” it said in a statement.
“These practices may constitute anti-competitive tying or bundling and prevent suppliers of other communication and collaboration tools from competing.”
A Microsoft spokesperson said: “We respect the European Commission’s work in this case and take our responsibilities very seriously. We continue to work with the Commission and remain committed to finding solutions that address its concerns.”
