Going forward, Microsoft Office users will purchase Teams separate from the rest of the Office 365 suite. Microsoft is now enforcing this move globally after the European Commission formally began investigating the matter last year. In trying to avoid a European Union (EU) fine, Teams was unbundled from the rest of the Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites for business customers in the European Economic Area and Switzerland last year in October.
Microsoft Teams is a team collaboration application that offers workspace chat and video conferencing, file storage, and third-party application integration. It was bundled into Office back in 2017. However, in 2020, Slack made a complaint to the European Commission leading to the investigations.
There are two concerns that are central to the Commission’s investigation. One is that customers should be able to choose a business suite without Teams at a price less than that with Teams included. Secondly, Microsoft should do more to make interoperability easier between rival applications and Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites.
A Microsoft spokesperson said the move “addresses feedback from the European Commission by providing multinational companies more flexibility when they want to standardise their purchasing across geographies,“
Going forward, Teams as a standalone application will cost $5.25 (KES 690.38) for new customers.
Over the past decade, Microsoft has racked up $2.4 billion in EU antitrust fines for bundling products together. Antitrust regulations violations can result in financial penalties amounting to up to 10% of its annual turnover.
The EU is cracking down on potential violations of its Digital Markets Act (DMA) by tech companies. Other tech giants that are Microsoft’s rivals are also under investigation. The EU formally announced last week that Apple, Alphabet (Google), Meta (Facebook), and Amazon are currently under scrutiny for possible non-compliance.
