Google has moved to eliminate a key friction point for organisations running workloads across multiple cloud providers in Europe and the UK, announcing that its Data Transfer Essentials service will be available at no cost for customers processing workloads “in parallel” across two or more clouds — a step that goes beyond the EU Data Act’s minimum “at cost” requirement and arrives just as the new rules take effect. (reuters.com)
This move sits inside a wider regulatory push. UK and EU authorities have been scrutinising hyperscalers — especially Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure — for licensing practices, data egress pricing, and interoperability issues that can lock customers into a single vendor. Recent regulatory reports and investigations have highlighted egress fees and licensing complexity as core competitive bottlenecks in the cloud market.
Regulators have signalled they will not stop at pricing. The CMA and EU bodies are focused on creating conditions where interoperability and fair licensing enable choice, not just cheaper exits. The evolution of frameworks and potential conduct obligations could reshape vendor behaviour well beyond fees, forcing clearer standards for formats, APIs, and contractual transparency.
For WindowsForum readers and IT decision-makers, the immediate action items are clear:
Source: Republic World Google Scraps Some Cloud Data Transfer Fees in EU, UK
Background
What changed and why it matters
The European Union’s new Data Act is designed to lower switching costs and make it easier for organisations to move data and workloads between cloud providers. One of the Act’s practical effects is to constrain the way hyperscale providers can charge for data transfers (commonly known as egress fees), essentially forcing those charges to reflect cost rather than being used as a commercial barrier. Google’s announcement — to offer free multicloud transfers via a branded “Data Transfer Essentials” option in the EU and UK — was explicitly timed to coincide with the Act’s coming into force. (reuters.com)This move sits inside a wider regulatory push. UK and EU authorities have been scrutinising hyperscalers — especially Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure — for licensing practices, data egress pricing, and interoperability issues that can lock customers into a single vendor. Recent regulatory reports and investigations have highlighted egress fees and licensing complexity as core competitive bottlenecks in the cloud market.
What Google announced — the details
Data Transfer Essentials: free for parallel multicloud
Google Cloud has introduced Data Transfer Essentials, positioning it as a simple solution to move data between Google Cloud and other providers while running workloads in parallel across clouds. The company stated the service would be available at no cost to customers in the EU and the UK as the Data Act takes effect. Google framed the move as going beyond mere compliance: while the law allows passing through costs, Google elected to waive those fees for relevant multicloud scenarios. The announcement included a quote from Jeanette Manfra, senior director of global risk and compliance at Google Cloud, underscoring the “available today at no cost” position. (reuters.com)How “parallel” is likely to be interpreted
Google’s public messaging emphasises scenarios where organisations process workloads in parallel across providers. That phrase typically means architectures where multiple clouds collaborate on the same workload or where parallel pipelines are used for resilience, burst scaling, or specialised processing (for example, data ingest on one cloud and analytics on another). The precise eligibility criteria for the free transfers and any technical or contractual conditions were described at a high level in the announcement; enterprises should expect provider-specific technical requirements and contractual definitions to appear in product documentation or service terms.How Microsoft and AWS have responded so far
Microsoft: “at-cost” policy already in place
Microsoft updated its Azure data transfer guidance in late August, outlining a process for EU customers to obtain at-cost data transfers between Azure and other providers. The Azure documentation explains that customers in the EU can request at-cost transfer pricing for internet transfers related to interoperable, parallel use of multiple providers, and details steps to create a support request for this purpose. That page was last updated on August 26 and describes the administrative workflow customers must follow to signal intent and obtain the accommodation. (learn.microsoft.com)AWS: reduced rates for eligible cases
AWS has also signalled accommodation for EU customers, noting in guidance that customers may request reduced data transfer rates for eligible use cases under the Data Act. AWS’ public network and global infrastructure FAQ references the ability for EU customers to request reduced rates and suggests contacting AWS support for specifics. Historically, AWS has emphasised that most customers pay little or nothing for common data transfers, while also offering mechanisms for reduced or waived fees in particular migration or research scenarios. (aws.amazon.com)Historical context: earlier egress fee changes
This is not the first time the industry has shifted on egress. In 2024 some providers announced moves to remove or ease egress charges to address regulatory and customer pressure. Those earlier actions set the tone for the Data Act and the September announcements now being rolled out across providers and regions. (reuters.com, cnbc.com)Why this is strategically important
1. Lowers a major switching cost
Egress fees have been a blunt instrument for discouraging migration. Removing or reducing those fees for multicloud parallel workloads materially reduces the financial friction of moving data and increases the viability of multi-provider strategies.2. Strengthens multicloud adoption and resilience
Organisations that use multiple clouds for resilience, regulatory distribution, or best-of-breed capabilities gain more flexible options to balance workloads by cost, performance, or compliance needs. That flexibility supports architectures such as active-active deployments, geographic failover, and specialised processing chains.3. Shifts the battleground to licensing and interoperability
Regulators and customers have consistently flagged licensing as a remaining problem: even with cheaper transfer pricing, complex or punitive software licensing can keep workloads bound to one provider. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and other bodies have singled out licensing as a priority since licensing can be used to preserve market power even if transfer fees fall.Technical and commercial caveats
Not all transfers are identical
Practitioners should expect that “free” or “at-cost” transfer offers will come with technical and procedural conditions:- Eligibility definitions (e.g., parallel processing, selected services or APIs).
- Required support requests or approvals (Microsoft’s documentation, for example, requires a support ticket and specific metadata such as subscription ID and ASN information). (learn.microsoft.com)
- Time-limited windows or process windows for migrations or transfers.
- Potential volume thresholds or usage patterns that qualify for reduced pricing (AWS’s guidance points customers to request reduced rates for eligible use cases). (aws.amazon.com)
Network and performance realities remain
Waiving fees does not change physical network constraints. Large data movements still consume bandwidth and require engineering to manage throughput, time-to-migrate, and consistency. Organisations moving petabytes will still need careful planning around transfer windows, parallelisation, and staging.Providers can shift the economics elsewhere
Providers may respond commercially by adjusting other elements of pricing or contract terms (for example, support tiers, storage or compute pricing, licensing bundles, or specialised network services). The absence of an egress fee does not by itself guarantee a cheaper overall bill.What IT teams should do now (practical checklist)
- Audit data transfer patterns
- Identify where egress volumes are highest and which workloads are candidates for multicloud or migration.
- Map licensing dependencies and contracts
- Inventory all software licences that might behave differently on other clouds, including Microsoft server and database licences.
- Test portability in small, controlled pilots
- Validate the workflow: initiate a parallel workload across clouds and verify the transfer and processing steps, monitoring latency and cost signals.
- Open formal support cases if needed
- Follow vendor-prescribed procedures (e.g., Azure’s support request steps) to declare intent and obtain at-cost or waived transfer accommodation. (learn.microsoft.com)
- Negotiate contract clauses at renewal
- Use the new regulatory baseline as leverage to secure better exit terms, migration assistance, or explicit egress allowances.
- Align security and compliance workstreams
- Ensure data portability actions meet data protection, residency, and audit requirements across jurisdictions.
Competitive and regulatory implications
The market dynamic: competition through openness
Google’s decision to offer free multicloud transfers in the EU and UK is a competitive gambit as much as regulatory compliance. By waiving fees, Google positions itself as the most permissive vendor on transfer economics — a persuasive marketing point for customers considering multicloud architectures. This could nudge enterprises to experiment more with Google Cloud for components of their stack that previously stayed bound to a single provider due to egress economics. (reuters.com)Regulators still have work to do on licensing and interoperability
Regulators have repeatedly identified licensing and technical incompatibility as the next barriers to true portability. The UK CMA’s work highlights how licensing, proprietary APIs, and non-standard data formats can be used to entrench market positions even where pricing is constrained. That means industry-level change requires both commercial concessions and technical standards work.Risk of regulatory fragmentation
Different jurisdictions may interpret or implement the Data Act and related obligations differently. The UK has pursued its own cloud market scrutiny via the DMCCA and CMA, and coordination between Brussels and London is not automatic. Enterprises operating globally should be mindful that the practical availability and terms of “free” transfers may vary between EU member states, the UK, and other regions.Strengths of Google’s move — and potential downsides
Notable strengths
- Simple, customer-friendly headline: “Free transfers” removes a clear barrier for multicloud testing and migration. (reuters.com)
- Regulatory signalling: By going beyond the Data Act’s minimum, Google demonstrates proactive compliance and positions itself favourably with regulators and customers.
- Competitive differentiation: If Google’s free option is broad and operationally simple, it could draw workloads previously locked to other clouds by transfer economics.
Potential risks and limitations
- Eligibility and fine print: The phrase in parallel and product-specific terms may narrow applicability in practice; customers should verify the exact scope.
- Commercial rebound: Providers can reallocate costs to other line items (support, compute, storage, or licensing) — so the “free” headline may not produce equivalent total cost savings in every case.
- Operational complexity: Removing fees doesn’t remove the technical work required for safe, performant migrations across clouds.
- Short-term marketing vs long-term policy: Providers could change policies after market conditions shift; enterprises must avoid assuming permanence without contractual commitments.
What remains uncertain or requires verification
- Precise technical eligibility: the operational definition of “in parallel” and the list of eligible services for Data Transfer Essentials.
- Long-term permanence: whether “no cost” is a stable, evergreen policy or tied to a specific period or set of conditions.
- Interaction with licensing terms: how Microsoft, Oracle, and third-party software licensing will interact with eased transfer fees; licensing complexity remains a primary switching cost.
Long-term outlook: competition, architecture and standards
The new environment reduces an obvious economic barrier to multicloud, but the bigger structural questions remain: will the industry move toward technical standards and BYOL parity that truly enable seamless workload mobility? Or will competition shift to other levers — licensing, integrated platform features, or enterprise services — that continue to divide the market?Regulators have signalled they will not stop at pricing. The CMA and EU bodies are focused on creating conditions where interoperability and fair licensing enable choice, not just cheaper exits. The evolution of frameworks and potential conduct obligations could reshape vendor behaviour well beyond fees, forcing clearer standards for formats, APIs, and contractual transparency.
Final assessment and practical takeaways
Google’s decision to waive data transfer fees for multicloud workloads in the EU and UK is a meaningful, customer-facing concession that reduces one of the most visible costs of switching or operating in multicloud. It also raises the bar for competitors and helps translate regulatory pressure into operational benefit for customers. However, the headline should not obscure persistent complexities: licensing, cross-cloud engineering, contractual detail, and practical network constraints still require attention.For WindowsForum readers and IT decision-makers, the immediate action items are clear:
- Treat this as an opportunity to pilot multicloud patterns with a measured, technical approach.
- Use formal vendor processes and document exchanges to secure written commitments on costs and migration support.
- Focus on licence portability and interoperability as the next strategic priority — price relief is necessary, but not sufficient, to break vendor lock-in.
Source: Republic World Google Scraps Some Cloud Data Transfer Fees in EU, UK
