Microsoft's collaboration team's been hard at work during the novel Coronavirus pandemic. This time, to make things easier for end-user organizations, Microsoft recently announced it would give its top Office 365 users in eight countries 120-minutes per month for domestic calling at no additional cost.
Excluding the United States and Puerto Rico, the calling plans can be found in Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom (U.K.). The offer's valid for both new and existing E5 users. Microsoft also updated its Microsoft 365 Enterprise Voice Plans. That means, in those countries, E5 now serves as a fully-functional phone system with PSTN connectivity. User phone numbers along with minutes - included in a single license.
According to Tom Arbuthnot, Principal Solutions Architect, Modality Systems, and Microsoft Certified Master/MVP, "This is great value for customers, as they could potentially access user PSTN connectivity at no additional cost." He did caution the move does add some competitive pressure in the eight countries in which the offering's available.
"It’s worth noting, it’s only for domestic calling, and only in select countries, and only for E5, so there's still a play for carriers/direct routing outside of these countries and plans"
Some customers may still prefer to go with a single provider/carrier who can service their telephony connectivity for all countries, Arbuthnot shared in a recent interview, adding another key element of interest. "We haven’t seen Microsoft add a calling plan country since 2018, so I don’t think this is a renewed push to be a global telco." Using Microsoft Teams Calling Plans means gaining access to a PSTN phone number, minutes, and can make outbound PSTN calls. Arbuthnot added inbound PSTN calls do not have minute caps or charges associated with them.
As it stands, E5 already enables users to leverage Microsoft Teams as a full-fledged phone system, but you'll need to add either a Microsoft Calling Plan or Direct Routing (an SBC and service from a telco provider) to enable users to make and receive phone calls. Microsoft Teams' domestic calling plans do let users make international calls, but organizations get less value, as the payment structure is per minute.
Microsoft has two levels of enterprise voice plans, the first, retails for roughly $13, the second voice plan by the collaboration giant sells for just over $21. All this, slated for a delivery date of August 1, 2020. Check out the Tom Talks Blog for more info.
[caption id="attachment_4234" align="alignright" width="200"]
Tom Arbuthnot[/caption]
