STOCKHOLM — Google Cloud will no longer charge users when they seek to transfer their data to a competitor, the firm has announced. This will apply to all customers globally from.
They said its customers who want to migrate their data to another cloud provider will not have to pay any network fees to make the transfer.
A blog post announcing the decision also took aim at hyperscaler rivals that have continued to charge such fees, arguing that the practice reduces intra-cloud competition to the detriment of consumers and providers alike.
Many cloud providers, including Microsoft’s Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS), charge customers based on the amount of data transferred when they switch vendors.
Britain’s media regulator Ofcom in October raised concerns about the fees, saying it can discourage customers from switching to an alternative provider. Ofcom had earlier asked the country’s antitrust authority to investigate tech giants’ dominance of the UK cloud market.
Although eliminating data transfer fees will make it easier for customers to change their cloud provider, restrictive and unfair licensing practices are why many customers do not switch, Amit Zavery, head of platform at Google Cloud wrote in a blog post.
“Making it easier for customers to move from one provider to another does little to improve choice if customers remain locked in with restrictive licences,” he said according to Reuters.
AWS leads the cloud computing market, followed by Azure, and Google is a distant third. Both Google and Amazon had earlier said that Microsoft’s terms of services had made it difficult for customers to switch.
