It raised concerns over the way Microsoft charges Amazon and Google to use its software, which it said is driving up costs.

The dominant position of Amazon and Microsoft in cloud computing is harming competition, an inquiry group from Britain’s antitrust regulator said.

Britain's Competition and Markets Authority concluded that Microsoft and Amazon hold "significant unilateral market power" in cloud services and recommended investigating both companies under new competition rules. The regulator said it had concerns about practices creating customer "lock-in" effect...

Competition authorities in the UK launched a probe on Thursday into possible 'market dominance' in cloud services aimed at US technology giants Amazon and Microsoft.