BRUSSELS (AFP) -The European Commission yesterday announced an antitrust probe into Microsoft bundling its Teams communication app with its popular Office suite, on concerns it could be cutting out competitors.
The investigation, to see whether the United States (US) software giant is “abusing and defending its market position” through the practice, comes as computer users have massively adopted online virtual meetings since the coronavirus pandemic.
“Remote communication and collaboration tools like Teams have become indispensable for many businesses in Europe,” the commission’s antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, said.
“We must therefore ensure that the markets for these products remain competitive, and companies are free to choose the products that best meet their needs,” she said.
The commission said that the shift to cloud-based platforms and apps has allowed more players to enter the market, and noted that such software is usually subscription-based, locking users in long-term.
It underlined that the Microsoft cloud-based suites were “well-entrenched”, and bundling Teams with them could be “restricting competition” in Europe.
“The European Commission is concerned that Microsoft may grant Teams a distribution advantage by not giving customers the choice on whether or not to include access to that product when they subscribe to their productivity suites and may have limited the interoperability between its productivity suites and competing offerings,” its statement said.
“These practices may constitute anti-competitive tying or bundling and prevent suppliers of other communication and collaboration tools from competing.”
