Microsoft to unpair its chat-app Teams from other apps in Europe

By Mucahithan Avcioglu

ISTANBUL (AA) - US tech giant Microsoft has pledged to remove Teams, its chat and online meeting platform, from its Office software suite to address EU competition concerns, according to a statement by the EU Commission on Friday.

The Commission stated that Microsoft has made various commitments within the scope of the investigation launched on the grounds that it violated competition rules by combining Teams with Office and that it seeks feedback related to these commitments for one month.

Under Microsoft's proposed commitments, the company will make versions of its packages available without Teams and at a discounted price, allow customers to migrate to non-Teams packages under existing contracts, offer Teams competitors greater interoperability with other Microsoft products, and allow customers to migrate their data from Teams to competing solutions.

"Interested parties are invited to submit their views on Microsoft's proposed commitments," the statement said.

The commitments on interoperability and data portability obligations will be valid for 10 years and other commitments for 7 years.

In 2023, the EU opened an investigation into Microsoft for combining its online meeting and chat platform Teams with Office in violation of the union's competition laws.

The EU Commission is empowered to investigate whether businesses operating in EU nations are engaging in anti-competitive practices.

In these inquiries, the Commission assesses whether a situation exists that is anti-competitive. If anti-competitive activity is found, the EU Commission stops it and fines businesses heavily.

In order to end the competition probe and avoid penalties, businesses may make concessions by pledging to remedy the EU Commission's concerns.