By Henry Saker-Clark, PA Deputy Business Editor
Publication Date: 2026-03-31 12:43:00
Microsoft’s business software operation is to face an investigation by the UK competition watchdog, which will assess whether tighter regulation is needed for its licensing practices for products such as Excel and Word.
The Competition and Markets Authority said it will launch a strategic market status (SMS) investigation into Microsoft’s business software ecosystem from May.
It means that the regulator could designate SMS status, which earmarks companies with an entrenched market dominance and can force them to make changes.
The CMA has said it could specifically act on any major concerns over how software licences reduce competition linked to cloud computing.
The investigation will look at software including Windows, Word, Excel, Teams and Copilot, used by hundreds of thousands of UK firms and public sector organisations.
The watchdog said it has…
