Microsoft and Brussels reach peace: Teams app investigation closes
The technology company is committed to taking action and ensuring that it does not abuse its dominant position.
BrusselsAgreement between the European Commission and Microsoft. Brussels announced this Friday that it accepts the changes the US technology company has committed to in relation to its Teams messaging app and has closed the investigation it had opened into it for alleged abuse of dominant position in the sectorThe European Commission has opened a case against the US company for linking payment for using Teams to that of other products from the same company.
The European Commission assures in a statement that Microsoft has committed to taking certain measures in a "binding manner" and that "they become part of the EU regulations" with which it must comply. Specifically, the technology company will stop offering the Teams application within the business package that includes several products, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, so that customers with long-term contracts for these services can continue using them without Teams.
The US company must also allow all its applications to be interoperable with other telecommunications tools similar to Teams but not from Microsoft. The objective is to facilitate the entry of other competing companies into the sector and, therefore, promote free competition.
In addition, all Teams customers will be able to transfer all their data to other applications that offer similar services, and Microsoft must facilitate this operation if they wish to do so. "These commitments, which contribute to restoring fair competition, will open the market to other providers in the European communications application sector," states the statement issued by the EU executive this Friday.
Microsoft, under control
The US tech giant must comply with these commitments for at least seven years, and with those related to interoperability and data portability for at least ten years, according to sources from the European Commission. Furthermore, the EU executive will constantly monitor Microsoft's compliance with the agreement and, therefore, with EU regulations. In fact, the European Commission will assign a supervisor who, in addition to acting as guardian of the pact between both parties, will also mediate between the EU executive and Microsoft if there is a dispute.
The agreement between the two parties comes after Donald Trump threatened to increase tariffs on countries or governments that impose fines on US technology companies, which earn billions in profits in the European Union market. However, the European Commission insists that these threats do not affect the proceedings it has opened against these large companies and, in fact, last Friday imposed a fine against Google worth €2.95 billion for violating EU competition and antitrust laws.