Microsoft Teams: Explicit consent for PSTN participants in one-to-one calls

[What and why]

Microsoft Teams will support explicit consent for participants connected through the public switched telephone network (PSTN) in one-to-one Teams calls. When explicit consent is required, PSTN participants will hear an audio prompt when recording or transcription starts and can use their phone keypad to consent or decline. Participants who decline can remain in the call but stay muted. This capability extends the existing Teams calling policy for explicit consent to one-to-one PSTN calls.

[Rollout schedule]

• General Availability (Worldwide): Beginning in early December 2026

[Impact on your organization]

Who is affected

• PSTN participants in applicable one-to-one Teams calls where explicit consent for recording or transcription is required

What will happen

• PSTN participants will hear an audio prompt requesting consent when recording or transcription starts.
• Participants can press 1 to consent or 2 to decline.
• The PSTN participant's audio will not be included in the recording or transcript before consent is provided.
• PSTN participants who decline can remain in the call but stay muted.
• This capability uses the existing explicit consent setting in Teams calling policies. It does not introduce a new admin policy setting.
• The existing explicit consent setting is disabled by default.
• This update applies to one-to-one PSTN calls. It does not change compliance recording or the existing consent experience for meetings and group calls.

[Action required and recommendations]

No new policy configuration is required if your existing explicit consent configuration meets your organization's requirements.

• Review your organization's Teams calling policies and explicit consent requirements.
• In the Teams admin center, go to Voice > Calling policies and review Require participant agreement for recording and transcription for applicable policies.
• If explicit consent is already enabled, prepare users and support teams for the new PSTN keypad consent experience.
• If your organization wants to require explicit consent, enable the existing setting in the appropriate calling policies.
• Update internal guidance so users understand that PSTN participants who decline consent remain muted while the consent requirement applies.

Learn more

• Configure call recording, transcription, and captions in Teams - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn
• Set-CsTeamsCallingPolicy (MicrosoftTeams) | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations]