UK CMA says that Amazon's (AMZN) AWS and Microsoft (MSFT) can do more to address cloud services barriers

This is the latest step in a long-running UK competition scrutiny of cloud infrastructure, a process that began with a sector regulator referral and has since moved through a full market investigation. The pattern in these cases is familiar: concerns centre on egress fees, committed-spend discount structures and software licensing terms that raise switching costs, and the remedy debate splits between behavioural undertakings accepted from the named providers and a more formal designation route. The reference to strategic market status points to the newer digital markets regime, under which designation carries conduct requirements and the threat of substantial turnover-based penalties, so the open question is whether the authority settles for incremental commitments or escalates to designation. Precedent in UK tech probes suggests the authority tends to extract voluntary remedies first and hold designation in reserve, with the named pair absorbing most of the headline risk while smaller rivals and challengers argue for the harder route. The tells are whether the commitments cover egress and licensing specifically, whether the review timeline on designation is given a fixed date, and whether parallel EU scrutiny of the same practices converges. As an interim statement rather than a decision, the immediate read is that escalation risk remains live rather than resolved.