Microsoft is changing its Microsoft 365 and Office 365 offerings for business customers in the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland. In future, customers will be able to decide with or without Microsoft Teams.
After the European Commission launched a formal investigation in July 2023 into whether Microsoft is improperly bundling its Teams communication and collaboration solution with its business suites, Microsoft is responding and is now proactively making changes to Microsoft 365 and Office business suites. The Salesforce subsidiary Slack had already complained about this to the European Commission three years ago.
Fundamental changes
- From 1 October 2023, Microsoft will introduce new commercial Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites in the EEA and Switzerland that will not include Teams. The offerings without Teams will be offered at a lower price. At the same time, new Teams offerings will be introduced so that Teams can continue to be rented as a standalone product. The new products will be labelled with the abbreviation EEA (European Economic Area). The change will have no effect on existing subscriptions.
- Microsoft will improve interoperability between Teams and competing communication and collaboration solutions by supporting open interfaces and standards that enable other providers to integrate their services with Microsoft 365 and Office 365.
- Microsoft will increase transparency and choice for customers by giving them clearer information about the features and pricing of its products and offering them the option to deactivate or uninstall Teams if they do not want to use it.
Changes to Microsoft 365 business suites
The current Microsoft 365 Business suites will co-exist with the new offerings. Customers in the EEA and Switzerland will have the choice between the existing suites Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Microsoft 365 Business Standard, and Microsoft 365 Business Premium with Teams or the new EEA-specific versions Microsoft 365 Business Basic EEA, Microsoft 365 Business Standard EEA, and Microsoft 365 Business Premium EEA without Teams.
Changes to enterprise suites
With the launch of the new commercial product line, sales of the current Enterprise suites that include Teams will be discontinued to new subscribers. As a result, the Office 365 E1, Office 365 E3, Office 365 E5, Microsoft 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 E5 with Teams suites will no longer be available to new subscribers in the EEA and Switzerland.
- Customers who are currently subscribed to one of the affected suites have new options. They can continue to use their current plans as usual, renew and add new seats. If they wish to switch to the new product range, they can do so when their contract expires or is renewed.
- New subscribers to Office/Microsoft 365 Enterprise suites who wish to make Teams available to their end users will need to purchase two SKUs: an EEA-specific Microsoft 365 or Office 365 EEA suite and Microsoft Teams EEA.
Changes to Frontline suites
The current Frontline suites will co-exist with the new offerings. Customers in the EEA and Switzerland will have the choice between the existing Microsoft 365 F1, Office 365 F3 and Microsoft 365 F3 suites with Teams or the new EEA-specific versions Microsoft 365 F1 EEA, Office 365 F3 EEA and Microsoft 365 F3 EEA without Teams.
More questions & answers
title=‘Are there any changes to the consumer or education suites?’ open=‘false’
title=‘How does Microsoft Teams EEA differ from Microsoft Teams Essentials?’
Microsoft Teams EEA is an enterprise offering available to customers in the EEA and Switzerland that enables meetings, chats, calls (VOIP) and collaboration with no seat limit.
Microsoft Teams Essentials remains unchanged; it offers meetings, chat, calls (VOIP) and collaboration for customers with fewer than 300 users.
title=‘Can customers outside the EEA and Switzerland purchase the new EEA Suites (without Teams) and Teams EEA?’
The new EEA Suites and Teams EEA are intended for purchase by customers with logins in the EEA countries and Switzerland, via the EEA/Switzerland price lists for deployment to EEA/Swiss tenants from data centres in the EEA and Switzerland.
title=‘Can multinational organisations with a presence in Europe purchase the EEA suites (without Teams) and Teams EEA?’
Multinational organisations that have registered within the EEA/Switzerland can purchase the new EEA SKUs.
If other multinational organisations wish to purchase the EEA suites (without Teams), they can set up an EEA/Swiss registration with an EEA/Swiss billing address to purchase these suites. The offer is intended for purchase by customers with registrations in the EEA countries and Switzerland, from the relevant price lists for provisioning on EEA/Swiss tenants from data centres in the EEA and Switzerland.
Source: Microsoft EU Policy Blog and Microsoft Licensing
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