Unfair competition? Microsoft detaches Teams from software packages
Microsoft is making a concession in the EU antitrust investigation into its office software business. The company announced on Thursday that, starting in October, its software suites will be available in Europe at a lower price without the Teams communication service.
Since July, the EU Commission has been conducting a formal investigation into whether Microsoft is competing unfairly by integrating Teams into its platforms with other office software. The Brussels competition watchdogs expressed concern that this could give Teams an advantage over other services.
In the future, business customers in the European Economic Area and Switzerland will be able to purchase the Microsoft 365 and Office 365 software packages without Teams for two euros less per month, according to a blog post. Existing customers can decide whether to stay on their current contracts or switch to the cheaper version without Teams. The interaction of Microsoft software with other communication services is also to be improved.
Office communication software with chats as well as audio and video conferencing gained importance with working from home in the pandemic. The trigger for the EU proceedings was a complaint from competitor Slack in the summer of 2020. The service, which now belongs to enterprise software provider Salesforce, sees itself disadvantaged by the integration of Teams in Office 365 and Microsoft 365.
According to a report by the Financial Times According to the newspaper, Microsoft initially only offered to abandon the automatic installation of Teams for Office customers. However, Microsoft had only agreed to do this for the EU, while the Brussels competition authorities had insisted on a worldwide implementation, the newspaper wrote. In July, the EU Commission merely stated that Microsoft had not submitted a proposal that would have dispelled the concerns. (SDA)
