After we have dealt with the various roles and capabilities of Microsoft Teams in the article Designate Teams admin roles, today we will look at the overview of add-on licences for Microsoft Teams.
Depending on the desired functionality in Microsoft Teams, with a focus on Enterprise Voice, corresponding add-on licences are required.
Of course, how Teams Enterprise Voice is used must also be taken into account.
For example:
If Direct Routing or Operator Connect is used, the add-on licence “Microsoft Teams Calling Plans” is not required. This is only required for the Calling Plans option.
What it does need in any case to enable PSTN telephony is the Teams Phone Standard licence.
This article, however, is primarily concerned with which add-on licences are available and not in depth with which they are used.
In the following table, however, it is noticeable that Teams Premium is not listed. This is because Teams Premium is not a classic add-on licence but a full licence.
You can find more information about Teams Premium here:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/premium
| License | Description |
|---|---|
| Teams Phone with Calling Plan bundle | The Teams Phone with Calling Plan license bundles Teams Phone System’s PBX capabilities and a Domestic Calling Plan for PSTN connectivity. |
| Teams Phone Standard (Teams Phone System) |
Teams Phone System is a hosted telephone service that gives you call control and Private Branch Exchange (PBX) capabilities. Teams Phone Standard licenses give you all Teams Phone System capabilities like cloud voicemail, caller ID, call park, call forwarding, auto attendants, call queues, call transfer, and caller ID.
To learn more about Phone System, see Here’s what you get with Teams Phone System. |
| Microsoft Teams Calling Plans | If you want users to be able to call phone numbers outside your organization, you can purchase Microsoft Teams Calling Plans to connect to PSTN phone numbers with Microsoft as your PSTN provider. There are Domestic Calling Plans, International Calling Plans, and Pay-As-You-Go Calling Plans.
To find out whether Teams Calling Plans is available in your country or region, see Country and region availability for Audio Conferencing and Calling Plans. |
| Communication Credits | Communication Credits provide a monthly pool of minutes that can also be used for PSTN phone calls, if all your Calling Plan minutes get used before the beginning of the next month.
If you want toll-free numbers for Audio Conferencing, auto attendants, or call queues, you’ll need to set up Communications Credits. |
| Audio Conferencing | Sometimes people in your organization will need to use a phone to call in to a Teams meeting instead of their computer. Set up Audio Conferencing for users who schedule or lead meetings with attendees who need to call in using a phone.
To find out whether Audio Conferencing is available in your country or region, see Country and region availability for Audio Conferencing and Calling Plans. For pricing info, see Pricing for Audio Conferencing. Organizations can now use a third-party operator for their Audio Conferencing numbers. For more information, see Plan for Operator Connect Conferencing. |
| Microsoft Teams Rooms | Microsoft Teams Room is an additional Microsoft Teams product that brings video, audio, and content sharing to conference rooms. There are two licenses for meeting room devices: – Microsoft Teams Rooms Basic is a free license for up to 25 rooms that delivers core meeting and management functionality for all Teams Rooms devices. – Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro brings enhanced meeting experiences and advanced management and security to help you operate your devices at scale and enable inclusive hybrid meetings. For more information, see Teams Meeting Room Licensing. |
Note:
The “Virtual User” licence is also missing from this list, as this is available free of charge after activating the Teams Phone Standard licence.
The following rule is currently valid (application example):
Contoso, Inc. purchased 600 licences that include Phone System (one for each employee). Contoso is allotted an initial 25 plus 60 Teams Phone Resource Account licences, 85 in total. Their organization has 90 call queues and auto attendants. They need to assign all the Teams Phone Resource Account licences and purchase five extra Teams Phone Resource Account licences.
You can find more information about this in the following link:
Microsoft Teams Phone Resource Account licences
Licensing for governance, security, and compliance features
Microsoft Teams is built on the Microsoft 365 and Office 365 hyper-scale, enterprise-grade cloud, delivering the advanced security and compliance capabilities. When it comes to information protection capabilities, Microsoft 365 subscriptions, Office 365 subscriptions, and the associated standalone licenses will determine the available feature set.
- Microsoft 365 licensing guidance for security & compliance
- Key governance capabilities and licensing requirements
Licensing for guest access
Guest access is included with all Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Microsoft 365 Enterprise, and Microsoft 365 Education subscriptions. No extra Microsoft 365 license is necessary. Teams doesn’t restrict the number of guests you can add. However, the total number of guests that can be added to your tenant may be restricted by the paid features of Azure AD. For more information, see Billing model for Azure AD External Identities.
Due to the consequent development of Microsoft 365, available services and licenses change continuously. Teams administrators should always be ready to adopt to changes of the license requirements. For the latest update on licensing, see Microsoft Teams service description.
This module is part of my recommended learning path to Microsoft certification MS-700.
Exam MS-700: Managing Microsoft Teams – Certifications | Microsoft Learn