Is it possible to enable ACS SMS Service for my UK Client while I as a software vendor in India?

Question

Hi there, I'm trying to use Azure Communication Service to provide SMS services for my client. My account and I are based in India, but my client is in the UK. In the "Phone Numbers" section under Azure Communication Service, I see the following message:

"Unavailable for this resource. Your current subscription is not eligible for Public Switched Telephony Network (PSTN) and SMS products."

Could you please help me with this?

Note: As a software vendor in India, my account and billing address are based in India. Currently, I have a client in the UK, and I am working on adding SMS services in the UK to our software system. In the future, I will need to implement similar services for clients in other countries, such as the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.

Answer 1

Hello @Abdullah Ibn Ahammed SMS capabilities depend on the phone number you use and the country/region that you're operating within as determined by your Azure billing address. Numbers can only be purchased on "eligible" Azure subscriptions and in geographies where ACS is legally eligible to provide them. Since your billing address is in India, I see that India is currently NOT present in the set of geographies where ACS is able to provide the service and thus SMS as well. As a result, for your specific client in the UK, you'll need to have a phone number and an Azure billing address in the UK (or another supported region). You can find the list of supported regions by pulling the drop down on this page -- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/communication-services/concepts/numbers/sub-eligibility-number-capability

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