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By Joe Hoppe


The U.K.'s Office of Communications Thursday said that it will launch a market study into the U.K.'s cloud infrastructure services sector in coming weeks, probing Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google's positions.

The regulator said that the three firms generate around 81% of revenue in the U.K. public cloud infrastructure market, and its' study will formally assess how well the market is working.

Ofcom said it will examine the strength of competition in cloud services generally and the position the three hyperscalers hold in the market, as well as consider any market features that might limit innovation, growth or new players.

The regulator said it will invite initial views from interested or affected parties and consult on interim findings, expecting a final report--including concerns or recommendations--within a year.

Ofcom also said it will start a broader work program assessing other digital markets, including online personal communication and audiovisual apps. It said it was interested in how services like WhatsApp, FaceTime and Zoom have affected traditional calling and messaging and how competition and innovation might evolve.

It further said a future focus area is the nature and intensity of competition among digital personal assistants and audiovisual "gateways", like connected television and smart speakers.


Write to Joe Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com


Corrections & Amplifications

This item was corrected at 0816 GMT to reflect Ofcom said on Thursday that it will launch a market study into the U.K.'s cloud infrastructure services sector. The original version incorrectly said Ofcom reported its plan on Wednesday in the opening paragraph.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

09-22-22 0252ET