How to Configure Teams Phone Network Regions in PowerShell Using CsTenantNetworkRegion

In Microsoft Teams Phone deployments, delivering reliable telephony and ensuring regulatory compliance requires a well-structured network topology. Enterprise voice capabilities—such as Location-Based Routing (LBR), Dynamic Emergency Calling (E911), Call Admission Control (CAC), and media bypass—depend directly on the geographic hierarchy configured inside the Microsoft Teams tenant. At the top of this hierarchy sits the Network Region. Network regions represent large geographic hubs or global metropolitan areas (such as North America, EMEA, APAC, or individual countries) that group multiple local network sites together. Using the Microsoft Teams PowerShell module, voice administrators can deploy, modify, and audit network regions with cmdlets such as New-CsTenantNetworkRegion, Set-CsTenantNetworkRegion, and Get-CsTenantNetworkRegion.

Role of Network Regions in Teams Enterprise Voice Topologies

The Microsoft Teams enterprise voice architecture organises corporate infrastructure into three hierarchical tiers:

• Network Regions: High-level geographic divisions that define central hub gateways and WAN interconnects across broad geographical zones.
• Network Sites: Specific office buildings, corporate campuses, or branch locations associated with a parent network region. Sites contain specific emergency calling policies, bandwidth policies, and location-based routing rules.
• Network Subnets: IP subnet ranges (IPv4 and IPv6 CIDR blocks) mapped to specific network sites, allowing Teams clients to dynamically detect their physical office location based on local network parameters.

Configuring network regions is a mandatory prerequisite for associating network sites. Furthermore, in environments utilizing Direct Routing or Operator Connect, network regions govern how central Session Border Controller (SBC) gateways handle media bypass and regional audio routing.

Connecting to the Microsoft Teams PowerShell Module

To administer tenant network topologies, launch an elevated PowerShell session and authenticate to your Microsoft 365 tenant using the Microsoft Teams administrative module:

# Install the Microsoft Teams module if not already present
Install-Module -Name MicrosoftTeams -Scope CurrentUser -Repository PSGallery -Force

# Authenticate to your Microsoft 365 tenant
Connect-MicrosoftTeams

Ensure your executing identity holds at least the Teams Administrator or Global Administrator role in Microsoft Entra ID.

Auditing Existing Tenant Network Regions

Before creating new regions, review the current network topology to determine whether regions have already been defined or linked to existing central sites:

# Retrieve all configured network regions
Get-CsTenantNetworkRegion

# Format region output into a readable summary table
Get-CsTenantNetworkRegion | Select-Object NetworkRegionID, CentralSite, Description

The NetworkRegionID serves as the primary unique key used when binding network sites via New-CsTenantNetworkSite.

Creating a New Tenant Network Region

To define a new geographic network region, execute the New-CsTenantNetworkRegion cmdlet, specifying a unique region identifier, a descriptive label, and optional central site associations:

# Create a primary region for United Kingdom operations
New-CsTenantNetworkRegion -NetworkRegionID "UK-Region" `
    -Description "United Kingdom Metropolitan and Regional Offices"

# Create a region for European Union operations
New-CsTenantNetworkRegion -NetworkRegionID "EMEA-Region" `
    -Description "European Union Regional Hub"

The -NetworkRegionID should follow a clean, consistent naming convention across your global tenant infrastructure, avoiding special characters and spaces.

Modifying Region Descriptions and Central Site Bindings

When organisational reorganisations or hub consolidations occur, update region properties using Set-CsTenantNetworkRegion:

# Update the description of an existing network region
Set-CsTenantNetworkRegion -NetworkRegionID "UK-Region" `
    -Description "UK & Ireland Headquarters and Regional Branch Offices"

# Associate a designated central site with the network region
Set-CsTenantNetworkRegion -NetworkRegionID "UK-Region" `
    -CentralSite "London-HQ-Site"

Associating a central site designates that location as the primary administrative and media aggregation hub for the region, streamlining WAN traffic management.

Linking Network Sites to the Configured Region

Once your network region is active, map specific physical offices and campus sites to the region using New-CsTenantNetworkSite. This establishes the structural relationship required for dynamic emergency calling and media policy assignment:

# Create a network site bound to the UK-Region
New-CsTenantNetworkSite -NetworkSiteID "London-HQ" `
    -NetworkRegionID "UK-Region" `
    -Description "London Corporate Headquarters"

# Create a regional branch site bound to the same region
New-CsTenantNetworkSite -NetworkSiteID "Manchester-Branch" `
    -NetworkRegionID "UK-Region" `
    -Description "Manchester Branch Office"

# Verify site-to-region associations
Get-CsTenantNetworkSite | Select-Object NetworkSiteID, NetworkRegionID, Description

Removing a Tenant Network Region

If a geographic region is retired or consolidated, remove it from the tenant database using Remove-CsTenantNetworkRegion:

# Attempt to remove a network region
Remove-CsTenantNetworkRegion -NetworkRegionID "EMEA-Region"

Note: Microsoft Teams blocks the deletion of any network region that currently has child network sites or network inter-region links assigned to it. You must first reassign or delete all associated network sites before the parent region can be dismantled.

Auditing Complete Network Topology Mapping

To confirm that your global enterprise voice architecture is correctly structured, execute an aggregated audit query linking regions, sites, and subnets:

# Query all network sites grouped by their parent network region
Get-CsTenantNetworkSite | Group-Object NetworkRegionID | Select-Object Name, Count, Group

# Audit all subnets and verify their parent site and region mapping
Get-CsTenantNetworkSubnet | Select-Object SubnetID, NetworkSiteID, Description

Validating these associations ensures that when Teams client endpoints connect to corporate networks, the Microsoft cloud reliably identifies their geographic region, properly applies regional call routing policies, and dispatches accurate location metadata during emergency calls.