Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on September 10, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleGoogle removes cloud data transfer fees in the EU and UK, impacting multicloud strategies and competition ahead of the EU Data Act.
LONDON (Reuters) -Google said on Wednesday it had scrapped data transfer fees for organisations processing workloads "in parallel" across two or more cloud platforms in the European Union and Britain ahead of the EU Data Act coming into effect on Friday.
Regulators in the EU and Britain have been trying to increase competition in the fast-growing cloud market, which is dominated by Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and to a lesser extent Google Cloud.
Google said its move went beyond a requirement in the Act to charge fees "at cost".
Microsoft introduced at cost data transfer fees in the EU last month, according to information published on its website on August 26. AWS said on its website that EU customers could request reduced data transfer rates for eligible use cases.
Google said its multicloud "Data Transfer Essentials" offer was a simple solution for data transfers between Google Cloud and other providers.
Some organisations use multiple cloud providers to process workloads in order to increase resilience and flexibility.
"Although the Act allows cloud providers to pass through costs to customers, Data Transfer Essentials is available today at no cost to customers," Jeanette Manfra, senior director global risk and compliance, Google Cloud, said in a blog post.
The EU Data Act aims to make it easier to switch between cloud providers.
Britain's antitrust regulator has also raised concerns about competition in the cloud market, and in July it singled out Microsoft's licensing practices for adversely impacting other providers.
(Reporting by Paul Sandle;Editing by Helen Popper)
Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services over the internet, allowing users to access and store data and applications on remote servers instead of local computers.
A multicloud strategy involves using multiple cloud computing services from different providers to enhance flexibility, reduce reliance on a single vendor, and improve resilience.
The EU Data Act is legislation aimed at regulating data sharing and access among businesses and public authorities in the European Union to promote competition and innovation.
Compliance in finance refers to adhering to laws, regulations, and guidelines set by authorities to ensure ethical conduct and protect consumers in financial transactions.
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