Microsoft Office without Teams to avoid EU fine

Microsoft's Office packages could soon cost less without the Teams video conferencing service than with Teams. This move is intended to help Microsoft avoid a competition fine from the EU Commission. Microsoft is also said to have promised to improve the collaboration of Office programs with alternative communication software.

This was reported by Bloomberg, citing insiders. The EU Commission has been investigating since 2019 whether Microsoft is abusing its dominance in Office programs to gain an advantage in the market for video conferencing services. In competition law, it is generally frowned upon to use power in one market as leverage for advantages in another market. Since 2017, Teams has always been included with Office 365 or Microsoft 365. This reduces the incentive for customers to purchase additional and potentially better communication software from other providers. Competition, innovation and economic welfare suffer as a result.

As a first step, Microsoft launched independent Teams licenses on the market two years ago. Small and medium-sized companies pay around 45 euros net per user per year. However, Teams is still included with Office 365 and Microsoft 365. Anyone who does not want Teams still pays the full price. Therefore, from the EU Commission's perspective, it is not enough that Microsoft also offers Teams separately.

"Compliance instead of punishment"

At the same time, the EU Commission is now afraid of US President Donald Trump, who is railing against EU penalties for US companies. In fact, it looks like the EU Commission is changing its strategy under Trump's pressure. Instead of punishing big data companies for anti-competitive behavior, they are to remain unpunished if they promise to comply with regulations from now on.

On Monday, the industry service Mlex reported that Competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera was unable to prevail over Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič in a competition fine against the Google Group Alphabet for its advertising technology business. "Compliance before punishment" is the new motto in Brussels. The billions in fines provided for by law would only be imposed in extreme cases. The small concession by Microsoft predicted by Bloomberg would also fit in with this picture; it allows the EU Commission to show at least a small success. This comes late for Teams competitors such as Alfaview and Slack.

(ds)