EU may file formal complaint against Microsoft Teams’ bundling, despite latest efforts

Microsoft is facing a series of antitrust investigations and complaints from various entities within the European Union, which suggests increasing scrutiny of its regional business practices. The European Union has been investigating Microsoft’s behavior related to its Teams app and other services.

EU Prepares Complaint Over Microsoft’s Teams App

Microsoft’s video-conferencing app, Teams, has caused problems with the European Union. The EU’s antitrust enforcers are upset with Microsoft’s behavior and ready to complain officially. Microsoft tried to solve the issue by offering Teams separately, but the EU wasn’t impressed. According to the Bloomberg report:

Microsoft’s recent proposal to split its Teams from a broader business software package and sell it to customers separately with an annual discount wasn’t enough to satisfy regulators’ concerns, according to people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The European Commission is preparing a statement of objections to send to the company, which could come in the next few months, the people said.

EU investigates Microsoft for Teams Bundling

Microsoft is also facing other complaints filed with EU regulators, including one from a European cloud group that includes Amazon.com Inc.’s AWS as a member, which says that Microsoft is not fair when licensing its cloud infrastructure. Another complaint filed by German cloud platform NextCloud GmbH in 2021 is about Microsoft bundling its OneDrive cloud system with Windows. Microsoft announced that it will unbundle Teams from its Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites in the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland. 

Digital Antitrust Investigation

Additionally, Microsoft is under investigation by the EU’s digital antitrust regulators, who are assessing whether its Bing, Edge, and Advertising services should fall under the scope of the bloc’s Digital Markets Act, which outlines regulations for major tech companies.

via Bloomberg (paywalled)