April 4 (Reuters) - South African antitrust agency is

set to investigate Microsoft ( MSFT ) over its cloud computing

licensing practices, a source with direct knowledge of the

matter told Reuters on Thursday.

The South African case against Microsoft ( MSFT ) is likely to mirror

the European Union antitrust case, according to the source.

Microsoft ( MSFT ) and South Africa's competition agency did not

immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

The U.S. software giant faces a EU complaint by rivals

over its cloud computing licensing practices in the region.

Industry group CISPE, whose members include Amazon.com ( AMZN )

and 26 small EU cloud providers, filed a complaint in

late 2022 alleging that Microsoft's ( MSFT ) new contractual terms

imposed on Oct. 1 were harming Europe's cloud computing

ecosystem.

Microsoft ( MSFT )

amended its licensing terms

in mid-2022 after rivals in Germany, Italy, Denmark and

France took their grievances to the EU competition watchdog.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee and Nilutpal Timsina; Additional

reporting by Yuvraj Malik Editing by Anil D'Silva)