BT Wholesale has announced the availability of its Operator Connect for Teams solution through Microsoft’s AppSource marketplace, marking a significant development in the UC landscape.
The service, which integrates traditional voice calling capabilities directly into Microsoft Teams, targets a market where only 5.7% of the platform’s 350 million global users currently have telephony functionality enabled.
The integration eliminates traditional barriers to entry and simplifies the customer journey, allowing organizations to order voice services directly through Microsoft’s established marketplace.
For channel partners, this means access to one of the largest untapped opportunities in the business communications sector, as they can now provision services through a familiar, streamlined marketplace.
Technical Integration and Market Dynamics
BT Wholesale’s availability of Operator Connect through Microsoft’s AppSource fundamentally changes the technical and commercial landscape for voice services.
Unlike traditional telecommunications procurement, the AppSource integration enables channel partners to order directly, supporting rapid deployment with minimal technical overhead.
This shift represents a move toward consumption-based models that mirror the broader software-as-a-service evolution across enterprise technology.
From a technical perspective, Operator Connect eliminates the need for complex integration and extensive IT development resources that have traditionally characterized enterprise voice deployments.
The solution leverages Microsoft’s existing infrastructure to deliver carrier-grade voice services directly within the Teams client, reducing deployment complexity while maintaining enterprise-level reliability and feature sets.
This technical simplification removes barriers that may have prevented many organizations from upgrading their voice infrastructure.
The integration also addresses growing concerns around legacy infrastructure sustainability. With the PSTN switch-off scheduled for 2027 and copper network reliability declining, organizations face mounting pressure to transition to all-IP solutions.
“While video conferencing has been widely adopted, there are still many more value-added services to take advantage of,”
Gavin Jones, Director of the Partner Channel at BT Wholesale, comments.
The timing creates a natural market driver that channel partners can leverage to initiate conversations about broader infrastructure modernization projects.
Tapping Into a £12m Annual Revenue Stream
Despite Microsoft Teams being ubiquitous in enterprise environments, the vast majority of organizations continue to rely on separate phone systems for voice communications.
Operator Connect is a Microsoft Teams feature that allows organizations to choose from certified operators to provide voice calling directly through Teams. It simplifies telephony management by enabling IT administrators to connect and manage operator services, phone numbers, and calling features directly within the Teams admin center, without the need for complex configurations or on-premises infrastructure.
“With millions of users leveraging Microsoft Teams within the UK, the opportunity to attach advanced workloads such as Microsoft Teams Phone is vast. New offers such as BT Wholesale Operator Connect for Teams help organizations simplify and transform, delivering AI-powered collaboration at scale,” Gareth Bleasdale, Sr. GTM Manager at Microsoft, says.
This makes it an attractive offering for companies that already use Microsoft Teams as they aim to consolidate their communications data in one place.
Therefore, partners who can offer this stand to gain significantly. Indeed, the market opportunity presented by Operator Connect highlights its potential in the UK communications sector.
Forecasts predict that more than 2 million new Operator Connect users will be deployed across the UK market over the next five years, creating a direct annual revenue opportunity exceeding £12 million.
This figure becomes even more compelling when considering the recurring nature of voice services and the potential for additional value-added services.
The ability to offer integrated voice and collaboration services positions partners as strategic advisors, with change management, training, and integration expanding touchpoints for deeper customer relationships and broader service portfolios.
Strategic Implications and Future Outlook
BT Wholesale’s launch of Operator Connect through AppSource represents a new business area for channel partners to pursue with their customers.
Channel partners that can capitalize on this stand to gain a substantial share of an untapped market.
Early indicators suggest that organizations increasingly favor solutions that integrate seamlessly with their existing software investments, rather than best-of-breed approaches that require complex integration efforts.
This trend favors partners who can demonstrate deep platform expertise and deliver comprehensive solutions rather than point products.
For the channel community, the question is not whether to engage with this opportunity, but how quickly they can develop the capabilities needed to maximize their position in a rapidly evolving market.
