Cloud inquiry chair quits CMA over glacial pace of reform

"Kip Meeks, who worked as Inquiry Chair at the Competition and Markets Authority since 2018, provisionally found that the cloud market was working well... for AWS and Microsoft. For customers, interoperability challenges and Microsoft licensing policies were a sticking point."

"With the two US hyperscalers accounting for up to 90 percent of the country's cloud services market, the CMA inquiry in July advised designating the pair with strategic market status for cloud computing, meaning they'd face stricter rules as tech firms with 'substantial and entrenched market power' and significant influence over specific digital activities."

"I shared concerns at the time that the CMA was taking a long time to pick up the recommendations of our report. I'm still concerned that the pace is going slowly."

Kip Meeks, chair of the Competition and Markets Authority's cloud inquiry since 2018, resigned in late January, expressing concerns about the slow pace of implementing the investigation's recommendations. The CMA's July report found that AWS and Microsoft control up to 90 percent of Britain's cloud services market, recommending they be designated with strategic market status due to their substantial market power. The inquiry identified interoperability challenges and Microsoft licensing policies as significant issues for customers. Despite these findings, nearly two-and-a-half years after the investigation began, regulatory action remains pending. Meeks departed a year before his term's scheduled end, stating his ongoing concerns about implementation delays.

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