Configure Operator Connect and Teams Phone Mobile
Operator Connect and Teams Phone Mobile are additional options for configuring Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) connectivity with Teams Phone. They join Microsoft Calling plans and Direct Routing. You can use any combination of options to meet the requirements of your organization.
Operator Connect and Teams Phone Mobile allow you to purchase phone numbers directly from Microsoft certified and approved third-party PSTN Carriers/Operators. You can request a relationship with the operator directly from the Teams Admin Center and phone number assignment, and administration is done through the Teams Admin Center. With Teams Phone Mobile, a user’s SIM-enabled phone number is also their phone number in Teams. Users can use a single phone number in Microsoft Teams across both their mobile service and desk lines, and seamlessly transition between networks and devices.
The billing and commercial agreement is between you and the third-party operator. There's no technical setup, SBC setup, or anything equipment related, as Operator Connect and Teams Phone Mobile carriers are already directly connected with Microsoft. This makes it much simpler to engage with carriers and order or port phone numbers.
Operator Connect and Teams Phone Mobile allow you to maintain existing operator relationships in many cases and make new ones in specific countries/regions.
Note
You can have more than one operator concurrently for different users or countries/regions, or even the same country/region. There's no limit to the number of operators you can have.
Connect to an operator
The first step is to select your operator. The Teams Admin Center makes this easy. Under Voice, on the left menu, there's an Operators tab that shows all currently available operators (the list continues to expand as new operators are added).
You might want to pick an operator you already know and use. If you wish to find out which operators can serve the countries/regions you need, you can use Teams admin center to filter the Operators by country/region and capability. The following picture shows several available Operators for different regions:
To configure an operator, first select an operator:
Navigate to the Microsoft Teams admin center at https://admin.teams.microsoft.com.
Select Voice and Operators.
For each operator, there's an Offer Details link that links to their site. Operators define their commercial models and packages, and other add-on services, so it's worth checking out the different options.
Select the Operator you wish to enable.
Select the regions you're interested in procuring numbers.
Check the boxes to agree that the operator can contact me and that you accept the data transfer notice, which allows Microsoft to share select information with the carrier for the provisioning, use, and technical troubleshooting of the service.
The operator emails you to provide details of the service and how to sign up. This typically involves a sign-up process completed on an operator web portal or via email and PDF/online contract depending on the operator. You must provide your tenant ID to the operator. If you don't know your tenant ID, review the links in the resources for help.
Tip
The operators will have access to see all emergency addresses in your tenant in the countries/regions that you selected services for, but they can't create them. Be sure to configure Emergency address locations for all countries/regions you want numbers for.
Manage Operator Connect and Teams Phone Mobile phone numbers
You can't order phone numbers from within the Teams admin center like you can with Microsoft Calling plans. To order numbers, you work directly with your carrier in their online portal or directly via phone/email. Teams Phone Mobile phone numbers must be SIM-enabled with the Teams Phone Mobile service enabled by the operator.
The numbers they provision to your account are available in the Teams admin center:
Navigate to the Microsoft Teams admin center at https://admin.teams.microsoft.com.
Select Voice and Phone numbers.
The numbers are listed with the appropriate operator as the Number provider.
After performing the described steps, you'll be able to review and manage your phone number inventory on your tenant.