Phone add-on

Question

I want to have a phone add on to my teams account. How can I do that? I am in UK, I have a BSO working remotely from kenya and I want her to have the phone add-on on her teams account.

Your help will mean alot.

Answer 1

Hello @Caroline Asuga ,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A forum.

To add a phone add-on to your Microsoft Teams account (for yourself or your BSO working remotely from Kenya), you will need to assign a Microsoft Teams Phone license to the user. Below is a complete overview of what is required and how to set it up.

First, you will need to understand what is required. So basically, to enable phone calling capabilities in Teams, you need:

• A base Microsoft 365 license that includes Microsoft Teams (e.g., Business, E3, E5, etc.)
• A Microsoft Teams Phone add-on license
• A PSTN connectivity option: Microsoft Calling Plan, or Direct Routing (using your own telephony provider)

Here are some official Microsoft documentation links for your reference:

• Teams Phone overview: What is Teams Phone
• Teams Phone licensing details: Teams Phone licensing
• Cloud Voice overview (Calling Plans and voice options): Teams calling overview

Next, you will need to purchase the Teams Phone add-on:

• Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center
• Navigate to Billing → Purchase services
• Search for Microsoft Teams Phone
• Purchase the required number of licenses

Then, assign the license to the user:

• In Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Users > Active users
• Select the user (for example, your BSO in Kenya)
• Click Licenses and apps
• Enable Microsoft Teams Phone
• Save changes

One important thing to keep in mind is the user’s location, since Calling Plan availability depends on the country or region.

Calling Plans are available in the UK, but they may not be supported in Kenya. If that’s the case, you would need to use Direct Routing instead to enable external calling. You can find more details about planning for Direct Routing here: Plan Direct Routing 

The next thing is assigning a phone number. If you are using Microsoft Calling Plans:

• You must assign a phone number to the user after the license is enabled.
• If you are using Direct Routing: You will need a certified Session Border Controller (SBC) and a configured telephony provider.

I hope this helps clear things up.

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Answer 2

To add phone capabilities (Teams Phone and Calling Plan) to a Teams business account in the UK and assign them to a user (including someone working remotely in Kenya), follow these steps:

1. Confirm licensing and availability

• Verify that the tenant is in a country/region where Microsoft Calling Plans are available (United Kingdom is supported). See Country and region availability for Audio Conferencing and Calling Plans from Set up Microsoft Calling Plans.
• Ensure the user has a base Microsoft 365/Office 365 license that supports Teams (for example, Enterprise E3/E5, Business Basic/Standard, or an Education plan if applicable).
• Purchase the required add-on licenses:
  • Teams Phone (for telephony features), and
  • A Calling Plan (for PSTN calling) such as Domestic or International, depending on calling needs.

2. Buy and assign Teams Phone and Calling Plan licenses

• After purchasing the licenses for the tenant:
  1. Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center as a User management admin or higher.
  2. Assign Teams Phone and the appropriate Calling Plan license to the UK user and to the BSO in Kenya (the user’s physical location does not have to match the tenant’s country; the phone number will be associated with the tenant’s country/region).
  3. If using Pay-As-You-Go Calling Plans, set up Communications Credits if required. See “How to fund a Pay-As-You-Go Calling Plan” in the Calling Plans documentation.
  For license assignment details and SKU names, see:
  • Assign Teams add-on licenses to users
  • The Product names and SKU identifiers for licensing section for options such as:
    • Teams Phone Standard (MCOEV)
    • Domestic Calling Plan (MCOPSTN1, MCOPSTN5, MCOPSTN6)
    • International Calling Plan (MCOPSTN2)
    • Communications Credits (MCOPSTNPP)

3. Get phone numbers for the users Once Teams Phone and Calling Plan licenses are assigned:
4. Sign in to the Microsoft Teams admin center with a Teams admin role (Teams Administrator, Teams Telephony Administrator, or Teams Communications Administrator).
5. In the left navigation, go to Voice > Phone numbers, then select Add.
6. Use the Add phone numbers wizard:
   • Enter an order name and description.
   • Select From Operator.
   • On the Location and quantity page:
     • Choose Country or region = United Kingdom (or the tenant’s country/region).
     • Select the Number type (user number type).
     • Set Operator to Microsoft.
     • Enter the Quantity of numbers needed (for example, one for the BSO and one for the UK user).
     • Choose search criteria (area code, etc.), then select numbers and complete the order.

If numbers are not available with the chosen criteria, adjust the search or use the option to send the request to the PSTN service desk as indicated in the wizard.

Alternatively, if there are existing numbers with another carrier, port them to Microsoft using the “Transfer phone numbers to Teams” process described under Step 3: Get phone numbers in the Calling Plans setup article.

4. Configure emergency addresses and assign numbers
5. Create or confirm emergency addresses and locations for the organization.
6. Associate an emergency address with each phone number as required for the country/region.
7. Assign the phone number and emergency address to each user (including the BSO) via Voice > Users in the Teams admin center.
8. Wait for dial pad activation

• After assigning the Calling Plan license and phone number, it can take up to 24 hours for the dial pad to appear in the Teams client. If it does not appear after 24 hours, review the dial pad configuration or contact support as described in the add-on licensing article.

This setup will give the BSO in Kenya a UK-based Teams Phone number and calling capability through the organization’s UK tenant.

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References:

• Assign Teams add-on licenses to users
• Set up Microsoft Calling Plans
• Get Microsoft Teams Calling Plan phone numbers for your tenant
• Microsoft Teams addons for education