Microsoft has confirmed that Microsoft Teams will be available to business customers in EMEA separately from its Office bundle after the European Union opened an antitrust investigation into the company’s bundling of products.
From 1 October 2023, Teams will be available as a stand-alone product in the EEA and Switzerland, with Teams also remaining available for new enterprise customers to buy standalone. Existing enterprise customers with a Teams suite can choose to stay with their current suite or move to a suite without Teams. For small businesses, suites with Teams will also be available as well as versions without Teams available at a lower price.
Nanna-Louise Linde, vice president, European government affairs, Microsoft, commented: “We recognise our responsibility as a major technology provider to support a healthy competitive environment. We appreciate the clarity that has emerged on several of the concerns from extensive and constructive discussions with the European Commission. With the benefit of this clarity, we believe it is important that we start to take meaningful steps to address those concerns. We do this not with the sense that this will necessarily resolve all concerns, whether from the Commission or our competitors, but we believe this is a constructive step that can start to lead to immediate and meaningful changes in the market."