CISPE denies report claiming it is close to a deal with Microsoft over antitrust complaint

The Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE) denied a report that claimed it is nearing to close a deal with Microsoft over an antitrust complaint. The recent Politico report hinted that Microsoft is considering a deal involving several million euros with the CISPE. Now, it seems the agreement is nowhere near being final.

The CISPE denies reports claiming it is close to a deal with Microsoft to drop the lodged antitrust complaint

According to a recent report from Reuters, CISPE has denied the report of a possible deal with Microsoft. A message sent to Reuters by the body mentions:

These rumors are incorrect. Discussions between CISPE and Microsoft are ongoing, and while proposals have been made, no agreement has been reached. Any offer will need to be submitted for acceptance to the association’s General Assembly, which includes 34 European cloud providers located in over 14 Member States.

Not to forget, the previous report immediately became the talk of the town when two anonymous industry sources told Politico that Microsoft and CISPE are nearing an agreement. Reportedly, the deal would have involved several million euros to drop an antitrust complaint lodged by CISPE in the EU. Per the sources, the agreement also required CISPE not to lodge complaints further anywhere in the world.

Talking to Politico, Microsoft hinted behind the scenes it is working closely with CISPE to resolve such concerns. However, the CISPE has come forward and said that Microsoft indeed offered proposals. But, it further mentions that it hasn’t struck a deal as of now.

What’s the back story?

For the uninitiated, the whole Microsoft and the CISPE situation started back in 2022. The CISPE then claimed that Microsoft was abusing its power through licensing terms of software. It suggested that this resulted in discriminatory pricing eventually locking customers into Microsoft services. As a result, this move from Microsoft made it tough for its competitors in the EU to compete.

It is worth noting that Amazon Web Services (AWS) is one of the direct competitors of Microsoft in the cloud landscape. Therefore, we can’t rule out that the latest report could mean Amazon could be making things harder for Microsoft in the European Union.