In a surprising development in the ongoing EU antitrust case against Microsoft, both the company and rival tech giant Google have been caught apparently offering incentives to the Cloud Infrastructure Service Providers Europe (CISPE) group over licensing practices.
CISPE recently confirmed that it would agree to a €20m settlement with Microsoft aimed at addressing its past practice of offering its software at lower prices when using its own Azure cloud services.
The agreement is not yet fully finalised, but has already drawn criticism for the way it excludes non-CISPE members within the EU.
Google accused of bribing EU antitrust regulators
Google Cloud’s Amit Zavery said: “Microsoft’s strategy of paying whistleblowers rather than addressing the substance of their complaints hurts businesses and should not fool anyone.”
However, an anonymous cloud provider has revealed (via Register) that, just days before the announcement, Google had proposed a software licensing package worth around €455 million and €14 million in cash over five years. The agreement was supposedly conditional on the EU maintaining its complaint against Microsoft.
On the other hand, the Microsoft settlement, which was partly accepted, required the withdrawal of the complaint.
AWS, the only CISPE member of the three hyperscalers, reportedly supported Google's bid, emphasizing the importance of fair software licensing.
An Amazon Web Services spokesperson commented: “AWS is a founding member of CISPE and has made regular voluntary contributions to CISPE. Companies across all major industries have similarly long supported the trade associations.”
The Google spokesperson added: “Google Cloud has long supported the principles of fair software licensing. We were discussing joining as a member to help CISPE continue to fight anti-competitive licensing and promote choice, innovation and the growth of the digital economy in Europe.”
While a final ruling is yet to be confirmed, the EU antitrust investigation into cloud licensing terms is expected to result in a fairer and more interoperable environment overall.
TechRadar Pro has asked CISPE to comment on the report, but the group did not immediately respond to our email.
