If your company uses Microsoft Teams to make phone calls, you may have received a notice with the alarming subject line: “Configuration Change - Teams Voice Applications On-Behalf-Of Outbound PSTN Calls Will Fail Starting November 1, 2025.”
If so, you may be asking, “Does this apply to me?” “What’s an on-behalf-of call?” And, “Why is Microsoft making this change?”
Does this apply to me?
If your company uses Fusion Connect for Teams calling, this change does not apply to you. Fusion Connect is a Microsoft Operator Connect provider, which means we use the latest approved connection methods to ensure our customers experience uninterrupted service with their calling services. That means any automatically routed calls will continue to work as expected — no extra licenses are needed.
If you don’t use Fusion Connect for Teams calling, you need to check with your IT team or your Teams service provider and make sure they are aware of the change. If you need help understanding the licensing changes or verifying your compliance, please fill out this form. We’ll schedule a call with one of our Microsoft licensing specialists to assist you.
What’s an on-behalf-of call?”
Microsoft is introducing new rules that impact the functionality of calls that are routed by bots (automated programs) that use the Microsoft Graph API. These bots can perform tasks on behalf of a human, such as routing calls and managing queues.
According to this Microsoft blog post, starting September 30, 2025, they will begin checking to make sure that the people receiving these bot-transferred calls have the right kind of license — called a Phone System license. If they don’t, the call won’t go through.
[The notice you might have received from Microsoft and the blog post state different effective dates. Regardless of which date is correct, Fusion Connect customers do not need to take any action to keep their systems running smoothly.]
Why Is Microsoft Doing This?
Microsoft has said it wants to make sure that everyone using advanced calling features in Teams has the proper license. Before this change, the way licenses were required was inconsistently, leading to confusion.
We’re here to help if you have any questions, just reach out to your sales or customer experience managers for immediate assistance, or fill out this form and we'll contact you.