12:21 PM EDT, 04/15/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Broadcom ( AVGO ) is being asked by European Commission's antitrust regulators about modifications in the licensing conditions of VMware after its acquisition by Broadcom ( AVGO ), Reuters reported Monday, quoting EU officials.
The regulator said it has sent requests for information to Broadcom ( AVGO ) about the matter, the report said.
The report quoted a Commission spokesperson as saying on Monday that associations of business users from Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium last month complained to EU officials, including competition chief Margrethe Vestager, about modifications made by Broadcom ( AVGO ) that allegedly led to price hikes and other issues.
Some of the changes to VMWare's licensing conditions were in the pipeline before the Broadcom ( AVGO ) deal, Reuters quoted a source with knowledge of the situation as saying.
Broadcom ( AVGO ) Chief Executive Hock Tan said in a blog post Monday that they have reduced the price of VMware Cloud Foundation to promote customer adoption, with VCF now at "half the list price compared to past pricing."
Tan also said that VMware is finalizing a "transition plan to a subscription model that provides access to the most recent version plus support for a fixed term."
He said the subscription pricing model "does involve a change in the timing of customers' expenditures and the balance of those expenditures between capital and operating spending," but emphasized that it does not affect customers' ability to use their existing perpetual licenses.
Tan added that support extensions were given to many customers who came up for renewal amid these changes.
Broadcom ( AVGO ) and the European Commission didn't immediately respond to requests for comment by MT Newswires.
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