What is Microsoft Teams Operator Connect?

Operator Connect is a Microsoft-certified method for adding public switched telephone network (PSTN) calling to Microsoft Teams. It connects Teams Phone to a certified carrier so organizations can make and receive external calls natively inside Teams, without managing on-premises hardware or Session Border Controllers (SBCs).

Operator Connect is one of three PSTN connectivity options Microsoft offers for commercial Microsoft 365 environments, alongside Microsoft Calling Plans and Direct Routing. The certified carrier manages all voice infrastructure, SBCs, and PSTN services on the customer's behalf. Phone numbers are provisioned and assigned entirely within the Microsoft Teams Admin Center, which means IT teams manage telephony through the same console they already use for Teams administration. Operator Connect is available for commercial Microsoft 365 only and is not available in Government Community Cloud (GCC) High environments, which require Direct Routing exclusively.

How is Operator Connect different from Microsoft Calling Plans?

Operator Connect routes calls through a Microsoft-certified third-party carrier that manages the voice infrastructure, while Microsoft Calling Plans use Microsoft itself as the carrier. Both add PSTN calling to Teams, but they differ in who controls the network, pricing structure, support model, and deployment flexibility.

With Microsoft Calling Plans, Microsoft acts as the phone carrier and charges per its own rate card with metered minutes. With Operator Connect, the organization chooses a certified carrier that provides per-user or shared-channel pricing, often with unlimited local and long-distance calling included. The support experience also differs significantly because Calling Plan issues go through Microsoft's standard support channels, while Operator Connect issues go directly to the carrier. Carriers like Atlantech Online provide live engineer support in under 10 minutes, 24/7/365, which is a faster path to resolution than Microsoft's tiered support queues. Operator Connect also gives organizations more flexibility on number management, E911 configuration, and pricing models than Calling Plans typically allow.

Operator Connect vs. Direct Routing: What's the difference?

Operator Connect and Direct Routing both connect Microsoft Teams to a PSTN carrier, but they differ in who manages the SBC infrastructure. Operator Connect is fully carrier-managed with no on-premises hardware. Direct Routing requires SBCs to connect to the Microsoft Phone System—but those SBCs can be deployed and managed by the organization itself or by its provider. With Atlantech Online's Direct Routing, for example, Atlantech provides and manages the SBC, so the organization gets the flexibility of Direct Routing without taking on the hardware burden.

Direct Routing offers more control over call routing, PBX integration, and hybrid deployments, which makes it the better fit for organizations with complex telephony needs or GCC High environments. Operator Connect is not available in GCC High; Direct Routing is the only option there. Direct Routing also supports business continuity routing that can redirect calls even if Microsoft's cloud service goes down, something standard Operator Connect does not offer. On the other hand, Operator Connect typically deploys faster (as little as one business day). For organizations in commercial Microsoft 365 environments that want the simplest possible telephony stack, Operator Connect reduces IT overhead—though a provider-managed Direct Routing arrangement removes much of that same overhead while preserving Direct Routing's added control. The two models can coexist in the same tenant for organizations that need both.

How does Operator Connect actually connect my phone numbers to Teams?

Operator Connect works through direct network peering between the certified carrier and Microsoft Azure. The carrier's voice infrastructure connects to Microsoft's Operator Connect platform, and calls flow from the PSTN through the carrier's network into Teams without any on-premises equipment sitting in between.

The architecture follows a straightforward path: PSTN to carrier to Microsoft Operator Connect to Microsoft Teams. The carrier manages all SBCs and voice routing on its side. Atlantech Online, for example, uses Azure-powered direct network peering with TLS 1.3 encryption protecting all voice signaling and media inside its network. From the customer's perspective, phone numbers appear in the Teams Admin Center once the carrier completes verification. IT administrators then assign numbers to users through a drop-down menu in the same console. The entire provisioning process, from selecting a carrier to assigning numbers, can happen within the Teams Admin Center without touching any on-premises infrastructure or third-party portals.

What licenses do you need to use Operator Connect?

Operator Connect requires a Microsoft 365 subscription that includes both Microsoft Teams and Teams Phone. Teams Phone must be part of the license or added as a separate add-on before PSTN calling can be activated through any Operator Connect carrier.

Microsoft 365 E5 and Microsoft 365 Business Voice both include Teams Phone in the base license. Microsoft 365 E3 does not include Teams Phone, so E3 customers need to purchase the Teams Phone add-on separately. A standalone Teams Phone license is also available for organizations on other Microsoft 365 plans. Beyond the Microsoft license, the organization needs a voice service agreement with a certified Operator Connect carrier, a domain name verified by both Microsoft and the carrier, and a Teams Admin account with Global Admin or Teams Service Admin permissions to complete the setup.

Can Operator Connect and Direct Routing coexist in the same tenant?

Operator Connect and Direct Routing can coexist in the same Microsoft 365 tenant. Organizations can assign some users to Operator Connect and others to Direct Routing, which allows hybrid deployments where different user groups have different PSTN connectivity methods based on their specific needs.

This coexistence model is useful for organizations that have a GCC High environment for some users (which requires Direct Routing) and a commercial tenant for others (which can use Operator Connect). It also helps organizations that want Operator Connect for the majority of standard users while keeping Direct Routing for a contact center, a specific office with complex PBX integration, or users who need business continuity routing that redirects calls during a Microsoft outage. The Teams Admin Center supports assigning different voice routing policies per user, so the two methods operate independently within the same tenant without conflict.