Ofcom’s primary contention is that competition within the cloud services market is stifled by various factors that impede customers’ ability to switch providers or employ multiple providers simultaneously. One significant obstacle is the presence of egress fees, which customers often must pay to migrate their data to an alternative service. Ofcom noted in its report that the costs associated with transferring data can discourage customers from adopting multiple cloud providers and, in some instances, make switching financially burdensome.
The lack of interoperability and data portability further compounds the challenge for customers, making it arduous to configure data and applications to function seamlessly across various services. Additionally, discounts offered by dominant providers can dissuade customers from exploring alternatives.