What it does

A certified operator connects its own SBCs and trunks into Microsoft's network, and you consume the service from the Teams admin center. You pick the operator, it uploads numbers into your tenant, and you assign them like Calling Plan numbers — no SBC of yours, no voice routing policy.

Key facts

• Enabled under Voice > Operator Connect: pick the operator from All operators, select countries, give contact name, email and company size, accept the data transfer notice, then Add as my operator.
• Your contact details are shared with the operator. The operator needs your tenant ID to provision numbers.
• Prerequisites: Teams Phone licences on users, and users in TeamsOnly mode.
• The operator handles PSTN connectivity, number provisioning and porting, and PSTN support. Microsoft handles Teams Phone and the admin center integration.
• Assignment uses Set-CsPhoneNumberAssignment -PhoneNumberType OperatorConnect or the admin center. Numbers show up in Voice > Phone numbers once uploaded.
• Moving from Direct Routing: check Get-CsPhoneNumberAssignment shows DirectRouting, clear any on-prem LineURI via Set-CsUser -LineURI $null if the user was hybrid, then Remove-CsPhoneNumberAssignment -PhoneNumberType DirectRouting. This can take up to 10 minutes, rarely 24 hours. Remove the voice routing policy with Grant-CsOnlineVoiceRoutingPolicy -PolicyName $null.
• Moving from Calling Plans: the operator runs the port and uploads the numbers.
• Emergency addresses follow one of three operator models: operator assigns and you can change, you assign, or operator assigns and locks.
• From My operators you can manage countries, suspend or remove an operator. Before removal, unassign all numbers and get the operator to release them.
• Releasing numbers is done from Voice > Phone numbers (unassign first if assigned).

When to use / skip

Use Operator Connect when the client wants carrier-grade PSTN without running SBCs, and their preferred carrier is in the directory for the countries they need. It's the cleanest answer for organisations that would otherwise have had a carrier-managed Direct Routing service — same carrier, fewer moving parts in the tenant.

Skip it where you need things only Direct Routing gives you: analogue gateways and SIP devices on the same SBC, a third-party PBX in the call path, Local Media Optimization, very custom routing, or a carrier that isn't certified. Whether it beats Direct Routing or Calling Plans for a given client is a decision guide conversation, not this doc.

Configuration decisions

• Which operator per country, and whether you'll run more than one — My operators is a list, and a multi-country estate often ends up with two.
• New numbers vs porting existing ranges, and the order of cut-over by site.
• Emergency address model — confirm which of the three the operator uses before you build your process around it.
• How to handle users who need to stay on Direct Routing (e.g. sites with analogue estate) — coexistence is fine but documentation matters.
• Who in the client raises number requests with the operator. It's no longer self-service in the admin center like Calling Plan number search.

Gotchas

• The Global voice routing policy still applies to Operator Connect users if you populated it. Leftover Direct Routing patterns will route their calls to your SBC. Clear it or use named policies.
• Forgetting to remove the old Direct Routing number before the operator uploads the same range gives you assignment conflicts.
• The "contact info" in the enablement wizard is the person the operator's sales team will chase. Use a shared mailbox or the actual project owner, not whoever happened to click through.
• Number usage (user vs service) is set by what the operator uploads. Check the main numbers and voice app numbers land as the right type before cut-over day, or you're waiting on the operator to re-upload.
• Removing an operator with numbers still assigned is blocked — plan the unassign and release step in any exit.

Consultant notes

• Ask the operator early which number types, porting SLAs and emergency model they support in each country. The directory listing is marketing; the onboarding pack is what matters.
• Script the Direct Routing removal per batch and log the before/after Get-CsPhoneNumberAssignment output — it's your rollback evidence.
• Agree a porting window with the operator and the losing carrier where you can still roll back to the Direct Routing trunk if the port slips.
• Keep the old SBC paired until the last number has moved. Removing it early is a common "why are some calls failing" ticket.

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Recheck the operator's emergency address model and supported countries before each new site migration