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Regulators are already preparing to open an investigation into
Microsoft's move. The U.S. software giant has been on the EU
competition enforcer's radar since 2020, when Salesforce-owned
workspace messaging app Slack complained about the tying of
Teams with Office.
Alfaview, based in Karlsruhe in south-western Germany and with a
500-strong workforce, said it had filed a similar complaint to
the European Commission.
Bundling both products together gives Teams a unique competitive
advantage that is not justified by performance and which rivals
cannot match, it said.
This has significant and permanent impact on competition in the
communication software market, alfaview continued.
"Tying Teams with the other applications in the Microsoft 365
suite creates a multipolar distribution advantage for the U.S.
group," its managing director and founder, Niko Fostiropoulos,
said in a statement.
Microsoft declined to comment on alfaview's complaint.
Microsoft added Teams to Office 365 in 2017 for free, with the
app eventually replacing Skype for Business.
The Commission is set to launch an investigation into the move
after Microsoft's remedies fell short, people familiar with the
matter told Reuters earlier this month.
Microsoft, which has been fined a total of 2.2 billion euros
($2.5 billion) in the previous decade for practices in breach of
EU competition rules, has offered to cut the price of its Office
product without Teams, but regulators want a bigger reduction,
the people said.
No formal investigation has been opened yet, but Microsoft is
subject to an informal probe.
"We continue to engage cooperatively with the Commission in its
investigation and are open to pragmatic solutions that address
its concerns and serve customers well," a Microsoft spokesperson
said.
Alfaview urged the EU antitrust watchdog to open a formal
investigation, saying remedies offered by its U.S. rival to the
Commission were insufficient.
($1 = 0.8928 euros)
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by David Evans and Emma
Rumney)
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