Microsoft Teams will no longer be included with Office in Europe

After months of speculation Microsoft made it official: stop including Teams in Office in Europe. The move was confirmed in a statement by Nanna-Louise Linde, the company’s vice president for European government affairs. The measure will take effect. From October 1 for Microsoft 365 and Office 365 enterprise customers in the European Economic Area and Switzerland.

Those who already use the plans business Microsoft office suites with integrated teams, they will be able to choose whether they want to keep the specified application or not. If you remove it, your subscription becomes cheaper. The executive noted that those who decide to uninstall the app will see a price reduction of 2 euros per month or 24 euros per year.

New Office 365 or Microsoft 365 enterprise customers Teams will be available to purchase separately and as a standalone app.. To do this, they must pay 5 euros per month or 60 euros per year.

It’s worth noting that Teams will continue to be integrated into cheaper versions of Microsoft 365 and Office 365 subscriptions in Europe. Particularly in the suites. Front linefor frontline workers and business, for small businesses. However, while existing plans will continue, Redmonds will offer versions “without Teams” from each of them.

Premium options of Microsoft 365 or Office 365 that don’t include Teams will cost €0.50 less per month. Whereas Microsoft 365 Business plans will drop the price by 1-2 euros per month, depending on whether they are basic, standard or premium. From this link you can access the full list with the new values.

Microsoft Stops Including Teams in Office, But Antitrust Investigation Continues

Microsoft said the decision to no longer include Teams in Office is in response to concerns raised by the European Commission. However, Redmond residents acknowledge that the antitrust investigation launched by the regulators will continue and that they will continue to cooperate with the authorities.

“[Estos cambios] They are intended to address two issues that are central to the Commission’s investigation: (1) customers should be able to choose a business package without Teams at a lower price than those that include Teams; and (2) that we should be doing more to facilitate interoperability between competing communication and collaboration solutions and Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites.”

Nanna-Louise Linde, Vice President for European Government Affairs at Microsoft.

Ending the Office-integrated Teams offering isn’t the only action Microsoft will take in Europe to assuage criticism and investigations into alleged anti-competitive behavior. Redmond representatives will also optimize their documentation and offer new resources for make it easier for competitors like Slack and Zoom to interact with services like Outlook, Exchange, and even Microsoft Teams itself..

Likewise, supporters of Satya Nadella have taken it upon themselves to develop a method for Microsoft Teams competitors. can host Office web apps—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more—on their own platforms.. This will, for example, allow users to open or edit documents directly from Slack or similar solutions.

It remains to be seen whether Microsoft’s new measures will help bring the European Commission’s antitrust investigation to a faster conclusion. Or they will show that the Americans are not trying to abuse their dominant position. Recall that the regulators have not set a deadline for the publication of the results of this procedure.

If authorities believe that bringing Teams into Office is anti-competitive, Microsoft will have to pay the price. This will represent violation of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and may result in various penalties. From fines and the cessation of illegal behavior to the obligation to implement a plan to sell assets.