The UK is to scrutinize the role of Amazon, Microsoft and Google in the country's £15 billion cloud services market, with comms regulator Ofcom warning it will take action if competition concerns are identified., otherwise known as The Office of Communications, said it is opening a study into the role of the big three cloud providers in the cloud marketplace, as part of a new effort to ensure that digital communications markets are working well for local people and businesses.
Ofcom noted that cloud services are a huge market that is still growing, citing predictions from tech analyst Gartner that as much as 45 percent of IT spend by some businesses globally will be on public cloud by 2026, up from less than 10 percent in 2018.The regulator is therefore kicking off a market study"in the coming weeks" looking into the role of AWS, Microsoft and Google, which together account for around 81 percent of the revenue in the UK public cloud services market, it says.
The regulator will invite initial views on the UK cloud market from"interested or affected parties", and said it will consult on interim findings before publishing a final report outlining any concerns or proposed recommendations within twelve months of the start of the study. As well as cloud services, Ofcom will also look into other digital markets, including online personal communication apps and devices for accessing online content, such as connected televisions and smart speakers. The latter are used to access traditional TV and radio services, as well as online content.