A new cloud industry association, the ‘Open Cloud Coalition’ (OCC) has officially launched. An alliance of ten cloud providers and users, including Google Cloud, ControlPlane and Civo, the group claimed that it would champion interoperability, openness and competition in the UK and EU cloud markets. The formation of the OCC comes as the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) continues to investigate the so-called ‘hyperscaler’ providers, including Google Cloud, for anti-competitive practices.
“As cloud infrastructure becomes indispensable, many businesses find themselves trapped in restrictive agreements, facing high costs and barriers when trying to switch or adopt multi-cloud strategies,” said the OCC’s spokesperson, Nicky Stewart. “The OCC is determined to reverse this trend by promoting a more competitive and flexible market and driving the adoption of open standards.”
Open Cloud Coalition pushing for greater competition in the cloud marketplace
The OCC said that one of its first duties would be to release research on inequities in the UK and EU cloud markets for the benefit of each jurisdiction’s regulators. The association added that with the new European Commission set to be inaugurated by the end of this year, it would lobby multiple governments on the continent to make cloud competition part of their policy agendas.
“As regulatory scrutiny increases, it’s vital that all voices are heard to ensure the cloud ecosystem remains competitive and innovative,” added Stewart. “Our founding principles are very clear that each member will have an equal voice. We urge all companies who share this vision to join us.”
Several investigations into alleged anti-competitive practices by hyperscaler cloud providers are underway in several countries, including Denmark, Spain and the UK. Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud have all been criticised in recent years for unfair pricing strategies and making it increasingly difficult for customers to easily switch to rival providers. In the UK, the CMA’s investigation has been running for over a year, with the watchdog recently announcing that it would delay the announcement of its conclusions until August 2025.
Though Google Cloud has been outspoken in its criticism of its rivals AWS and Microsoft Azure for their alleged anti-competitive practices, the former’s activities still form part of the CMA’s wider investigation into the current state of the UK cloud market. The OCC did not respond to requests for comment from Tech Monitor on how it reconciled this fact with its founding principles.
Read more: Google launches EU antitrust complaint over Microsoft cloud practices
