The dominant position of Amazon and Microsoft in cloud computing is harming competition, with their impact exacerbated by technical and commercial barriers to switching, an inquiry group from Britain's antitrust regulator said.

The UK’s cloud computing market is “not working well” and conduct requirements should be considered for the sector’s two main players, Microsoft and Amazon, according to the competition watchdog.The final report from an independent inquiry group of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has found that Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are hurting competition in the cloud computing sector.

Microsoft Corp. and an Amazon Web Services Inc.’s dominance in the cloud services market must face an antitrust investigation under the UK’s new rules for digital markets, the country’s watchdog said after a 21 month long investigation.