Call2Teams: Teams calling without ripping out your PBX
Call2Teams connects the phone system you already own to Microsoft Teams, so staff dial from the app they live in. Here is what the Dstny-owned service really requires in 2026, what Microsoft still charges you, and the South African route.
What is Call2Teams and do I still need Microsoft licences?
Call2Teams is Dstny’s cloud service that connects your existing PBX or SIP trunk to Microsoft Teams, so staff make and take normal calls inside Teams. You keep your numbers, your call rates and your PBX, and there is no SBC hardware to buy. Each user still needs a Microsoft Teams Phone Standard licence, about $10 a month. Telviva offers it in South Africa.
What is Call2Teams in 2026?
Call2Teams is a hosted bridge between the phone system you already own and Microsoft Teams. It began life at UK firm Qunifi and has been owned by Brussels-based Dstny since March 2022.
The pitch has not changed: instead of scrapping your PBX or SIP trunk to give staff calling inside Teams, Call2Teams sits in the cloud between the two. Your numbers, hunt groups, IVR and call routing stay on the system you already run; Teams simply becomes the handset. Dstny says the platform now carries calls for over one million users, and sells it worldwide through service providers rather than direct.
The current product family has three legs: Call2Teams Direct Routing (the PBX and SIP trunk bridge this article is about), Call2Teams Operator Connect (for carriers that want Microsoft-certified status), and Call2Teams Mobile (fixed-mobile convergence with eSIMs in 39 countries).
How does Call2Teams connect a PBX to Teams?
Technically, Call2Teams is Microsoft Direct Routing sold as a service. Dstny runs the certified Session Border Controllers; you never buy or manage one.
Microsoft allows four routes for Teams to reach the public phone network: a Microsoft Calling Plan, Operator Connect, Teams Phone Mobile and Direct Routing. Direct Routing is the flexible one, but done yourself it means procuring a certified SBC and running an integration project. Call2Teams removes that layer: you sync your Microsoft 365 tenant to the Call2Teams portal, point it at your PBX or trunk, and map numbers to users. Dstny claims a customer can go from account creation to first call in under ten minutes.
Two pathways cover most setups. Direct Routing for PBX keeps an on-premise or hosted PBX in charge, with its hunt groups and IVR intact, while Teams becomes another endpoint. Direct Routing for Trunks maps your existing SIP trunk and numbers straight into Teams when you no longer want the PBX in the middle.
Where Call2Teams sits
What does Teams calling with Call2Teams cost?
There is no public list price for Call2Teams itself; Dstny sells through service providers, who set the per-user fee. What you can budget precisely is the Microsoft layer.
Every calling user needs Teams Phone Standard at $10 per user per month (Microsoft’s USD list price, paid yearly) on top of the Microsoft 365 licence you already have. Microsoft’s own alternative, Teams Phone with a domestic Calling Plan, lists at $17 per user per month and is now genuinely available in South Africa, though its bundled minutes are billed in dollars and SA mobile numbers cannot be provisioned on it.
On top of the Microsoft licence you pay your provider’s Call2Teams fee plus whatever your existing PBX or trunk already costs. That stacking is the honest catch: you are paying Microsoft, the Call2Teams reseller and your current telco at the same time. For comparison, our Teams Phone guide for South Africa puts a typical all-in Direct Routing seat through a local provider at roughly R280 to R380 per user per month, licence included.
In South Africa, Telviva launched Call2Teams locally in March 2025 and claims customers can land at up to 40% less than their previous Teams voice setup. Rand pricing is quote-only, so make them show the full stack per seat before you sign.
Call2Teams or Direct Routing through a local provider?
Both give Teams a dial tone via Direct Routing. The difference is whose phone system, and whose call rates, sit underneath.
| Factor | Call2Teams | Local provider’s cloud SBC |
|---|---|---|
| What it connects | Your existing PBX or SIP trunk, unchanged | The provider’s own trunk and platform |
| Microsoft licence | Teams Phone Standard, $10/user | Teams Phone Standard, $10/user |
| Setup | Portal sync; first call in minutes, per Dstny | Provider-managed onboarding and porting |
| Call rates | Whatever your current trunk charges | Local SA rates, usually the lowest stack |
| Bills to manage | Microsoft + reseller + your existing telco | Microsoft + one local provider |
| Best fit | A PBX or trunk contract worth keeping | Starting fresh with Teams as the only PBX |
The deciding question is brutally simple: does your current PBX or trunk still earn its keep? If yes, Call2Teams protects that investment. If it only survives because migrating felt hard, a local provider’s Direct Routing deal replaces the whole stack with one bill and SA call rates, and a standalone Cloud PBX may undercut both.
Getting it running in South Africa
Call2Teams is Direct Routing with the hard part outsourced – you keep your PBX and your numbers, and Microsoft still collects $10 a user on the way through.
WhichVoIP editorial view
Our verdict
Call2Teams does exactly what it claims: it is the fastest, least disruptive way to put real calling inside Microsoft Teams while keeping a PBX or SIP trunk you still value, with no SBC to buy and a genuinely quick setup. The honest caveat is the stacked bill. Between the Microsoft 365 seat, the $10 Teams Phone Standard licence, the reseller’s Call2Teams fee and your existing telco, the total can quietly pass what a local Direct Routing deal or a standalone Cloud PBX costs all-in. And with Call2Teams Go gone from the line-up, there is no longer a cut-price path around the per-user Microsoft licence.
Frequently asked questions
Who owns Call2Teams now?
Do I still need a Teams Phone licence with Call2Teams?
What happened to Call2Teams Go?
Is Call2Teams available in South Africa?
Can I keep my existing PBX and phone numbers?
Do I need to buy an SBC or any hardware?
What does Microsoft Teams calling cost in South Africa?
Pricing a Teams phone system for your business?
Tell us your user count once and get free, comparable Cloud PBX and Teams calling quotes from South African providers, so you can see the real per-seat gap before you sign anything.
Keep reading
Sources: Dstny (dstny.com product pages, Qunifi acquisition announcement, Call2Teams Go press release), Microsoft Learn (Teams PSTN connectivity, South Africa plan availability and number management), Microsoft Teams Phone pricing (microsoft.com), Telviva (telviva.co.za launch announcement and product page), WhichVoIP Teams Phone guide. Verified 18 August 2026.