Optus launches Microsoft Teams Calling service

Calling for Microsoft Teams is now available on Optus, the telco has revealed. 

One of the primary features of Microsoft Teams Calling with Optus is the voice calling service that enables calls to be between Teams and the traditional publicly switched telephone network on a subscription billing basis. 

It is a cloud-operated service that removes the need for businesses to run big enterprise voice hardware stacks for voice services.The service is underpinned by Microsoft’s direct routing technology and its Azure cloud platform. 

Teams Calling with Optus offers Australian businesses the Teams collaborations experience, backed by Optus’ enterprise-grade Evolve Voice capability, the telco announced.

“As more Australians transition to remote working, this reliable and secure unified communications solution offers businesses the flexibility to use Microsoft Teams not only for real-time inter-team collaboration, but as a fully-fledged enterprise phone system using the Optus network,” said Deon Liebenberg, Optus Business vice president for product innovation.

“Optus is committed to keeping Australians connected and our partnership with Microsoft provides enterprises with a powerful tool that can combine their internal and external communications into one system.”

Microsoft Australia’s chief partner officer Rachel Bondi said its Optus partnership would provide organisations with access to a communications tool that combines enterprise-grade voice solutions, conversations, content and apps within a single digital hub.

“With remote workforce activity the new normal, we’ve seen Microsoft Team usage dramatically increase to over 75 million daily active users globally. By combining Optus’ premium network with Microsoft Teams, we’re now able to give customers a comprehensive platform for all their secure communication and collaboration needs.”

Optus said it intended to provide an end-to-end managed design, implementation and support service to support customers directly. 

The news comes two years after Microsoft and Telstra unveiled native voice calling for Skype for Business and Teams.