Ofcom’s request to the CMA to open an investigation comes after it completed a market study that uncovered “features that could limit competition.”

The British media regulator said its study found features that make it difficult for businesses to switch or use multiple cloud providers, adding that it was “particularly concerned about the position of the market leaders Amazon and Microsoft.”

Ofcom’s study pointed to the issue of egress fees, the steep fees a cloud provider charges a company to transfer data out of their cloud servers, which in turn dissuades them from changing cloud providers.

The regulator also expressed worry about the dominant players placing barriers to “interoperability and portability” which prevents customers from using multiple cloud services and complicates the process of moving to other providers.

The study also found that large players structured their discounts in a manner that required commitments for a certain level of spending, further dissuading the customer from using multiple providers.

The CMA said its investigation will look to establish if there are competition concerns and will intervene accordingly if needed.