Microsoft subscriptions in the Telekom Cloud Marketplace

When booking Microsoft Online Services, please note that the number of licences that can be booked is limited for a number of editions. This restriction exists because Microsoft primarily targets small and medium-sized businesses with these editions in order to offer tailor-made solutions that are perfectly suited to the needs of these companies. For this reason, there is an upper limit of 300 licences for Microsoft 365 Business licences.

The total number of Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Microsoft 365 Apps for Business licences may not exceed 300. For example, if you already have 150 Microsoft 365 Business Basic licences and 100 Microsoft Business Standard licences, you can only purchase up to 50 Microsoft 365 Business Premium licences.

In addition, licences for Microsoft Defender for Business, Microsoft Teams Essentials and Windows 365 Business are also limited to 300.

Step 1: Open the product you want to change. To do this, follow the instructions in "Where can I find my booked products in the Telekom Cloud Marketplace?" at the top of this page.

Step 2: In the "Update subscription" tab, you will find an overview of your current booking for the selected product. Under "Total users", you will find the number of licences you currently have booked.

Step 3: To add additional user licences, you must change the number of licences accordingly. For example, if you currently have 25 licences and now need 10 more licences, you must enter 35 (25 + 10) in the number of users field.

Note: Existing licences will be displayed as a "credit" during the purchase process because they have already been booked and invoiced. Only the newly added licences will be invoiced.

Step 4: Click Continue and follow the purchase process.

In principle, you can upgrade or update your subscriptions to Microsoft services such as Microsoft 365 or Office 365 that you have purchased from the Telekom Cloud Marketplace to a higher edition. You do not have to wait until the end of your contract to do this; you can upgrade during the term of your current contract.

Please note that you cannot switch to any edition, but can only choose from predefined upgrade paths. The available upgrade options are displayed in the Telekom Cloud Marketplace. Possible options include:

• Microsoft 365 Business Basic: Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Office 365 E1, Office 365 E3, Office 365 E5, Microsoft 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 E5
• Microsoft 365 Business Standard: Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Office 365 E1, Office 365 E3, Office 365 E5, Microsoft 365 E3, and Microsoft 365 E5
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium: Microsoft 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 E5
• Office 365 E1: Office 365 E3, Office 365 E5, Microsoft 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 E5
• Office 365 E3: Office 365 E5, Microsoft 365 E3, and Microsoft 365 E5
• Office 365 E5: Microsoft 365 E5
• Microsoft 365 E3: Microsoft 365 E5

An upgrade is only possible seven days after booking a subscription. After that, there are two options:

• An upgrade of all licences (seats) in your subscription to the new edition (full upgrade)
• Upgrading part of your licences (seats) in your subscription to the new edition (partial upgrade)

Furthermore, it is possible at any time to extend an EditionOffice 365 or Business EditionMicrosoft 365 subscription with add-ons or other Microsoft plans such as 365Microsoft Dynamics 365, AzureMicrosoft Azure or other online services.

If you have already purchased an Office 365 or Microsoft 365 plan in the Telekom Cloud Marketplace, you have the option of upgrading your entire subscription to a higher-value plan or edition, regardless of the number of licences you have purchased.

For example: You have 25 Microsoft 365 Business Basic licences in your subscription, but now need advanced features for all employees that are available with Office 365 E3. In this case, you can upgrade all licences to Office 365 E3 in one go. This does not change the contract term.

Here's how to perform the upgrade step by step:

Step 1: Open the product you want to change. To do this, follow the instructions in "Where can I find my booked products in the Telekom Cloud Marketplace?" at the top of this page.

Step 2: Please also select Update Subscription from the tabs at the bottom. There you will see your current subscription and a drop-down menu showing your upgrade options.

Step 3: In the drop-down menu "Select the desired application for the upgrade", click on the desired higher edition for the upgrade (in this example, Office 365 E3 EEA). This will then appear with the available options at the bottom of the list.

Step 4: You can then select the desired option for the higher-value edition and follow the normal booking process for the Telekom Cloud Marketplace by clicking on the "Continue" button to complete the upgrade. An upgrade to a higher-value edition takes effect immediately.

If you have already purchased an Office 365 or Microsoft 365 plan in the Telekom Cloud Marketplace, you have the option of upgrading part of your subscription to a higher-value plan or edition.

An example: You have booked 25 Microsoft 365 Business Basic licences in your subscription, but now need extended functionalities for 10 employees, which are available to you via Office 365 E3. In this case, you can upgrade 10 licences from your subscription to Office 365 E3. The remaining 15 licences will continue to be Microsoft 365 Business Basic licences. You will then have two subscriptions, 1x Microsoft 365 Business Basic (with 15 licences) and 1x Office 365 E3 (with 10 licences).

With this partial upgrade, you also have the option of upgrading to a new subscription or to an existing one, if available. So if you already have an Office 365 E3 subscription in your account, you can add the licences you want to upgrade to it. Please note that this is only possible if the contract term of the existing subscription is longer than that of the subscription to which the upgrade is to be applied.

When upgrading an existing subscription, you should also note that some Microsoft 365 plans have a licence cap that you cannot exceed. For an overview, see the question "Are there any restrictions on the number of licences?" on this page.

How to perform the upgrade step by step

Step 1: Open the product you want to change. To do this, follow the instructions in "Where can I find my booked products in the Telekom Cloud Marketplace?" at the top of this page.

Step 2: Please select Partial Upgrade from the tabs at the bottom.

Step 3: Under "Select the desired application for the upgrade", you can select the appropriate edition for the upgrade.

Step 4: You will then be redirected to the order form, where you can enter the number of licences (1) that you wish to upgrade. If you have an existing subscription and wish to do so, you can also select it (2) to which these licences should be added. Follow the rest of the order process to complete the upgrade.

Here you will find step-by-step instructions on how to switch your existing subscriptions from monthly to annual payments yourself.

Step 1: Open the product you want to change. To do this, follow the instructions in "Where can I find my booked products in the Telekom Cloud Marketplace?" at the top of this page.

You are now in the product view, where you will find all the important information about your booking. This includes your order history, billing interval, contract end date and the date of your next bill. There are various tabs available for your booked product. You can adjust the payment frequency in the "Update subscription" tab (1).

Step 2: Your booked subscription (2) will then appear below the tab and will already be preselected. You can make changes here.

Step 3: You can select the payment frequency at the bottom right in the "Select term" section. For annual payments, select the "Annually: 1-year contract" (3).

Step 4: After making this change, you will receive a notification that this change will take effect with the next contract renewal (in this example, 19 February 2026).

Step 5: You can now continue with the update process. To do so, click on "Continue" (4) at the bottom of the page. Above this, you will find information stating that this change will not incur any costs.

Step 6: Finally, you can check the details of your order once more. Before you submit your changes by clicking on the "Order" button (5), you must confirm the terms and conditions, terms of use and order data processing. This completes the change and it will take effect take effect at the next contract renewal .

Most companies have an internal accounting system with internal service and cost allocation. Products and services used should be clearly and easily identifiable so that they can be efficiently and flexibly allocated to internal cost centres and cost units, thereby ensuring transparent cost allocation. Internal cost centres and cost units can be, for example, business units, departments, projects or similar.

The use of subscription names in the Telekom Cloud Marketplace offers a suitable solution to this challenge. In this FAQ, we introduce you to the setup, the various options and different application scenarios for application names.

General information about the subscription name in the Telekom Cloud Marketplace

The subscription name is a name freely chosen by the customer for a booked subscription (for example, Microsoft 365 Business), which can be assigned by the customer themselves after booking the product.

The subscription name is assigned directly in the Telekom Cloud Marketplace and can be changed or deleted by the customer at any time. It is also possible to assign the same subscription name to multiple subscriptions, e.g. to internally assign different bookings to a department, cost centre, project, business unit, etc.

How to use the subscription name

The chosen subscription name will be used and displayed throughout the Telekom Cloud Marketplace. The default name of the booked product can either be completely overwritten or simply supplemented. The renaming can be undone or adjusted at any time in the product management section.

Step-by-step guide: Assigning subscription names in the Telekom Cloud Marketplace

Before you assign the subscription name, here is another important note: The subscription name can only be assigned, changed or deleted by the company administrator. To do this, the following steps must be taken:

Step 1: Open the product you want to change. To do this, follow the instructions in "Where can I find my booked products in the Telekom Cloud Marketplace?" at the top of this page.

Step 2: Then switch to the "Settings" area for the selected product.

Step 3: In the "Name" field, you can now enter the desired name for the selected subscription. Click on "Save" to apply the new subscription name. The new subscription name will then be displayed throughout the marketplace.

Step-by-step guide: Change or delete subscription names

Deleting or changing the subscription name is done in the same place as assigning the name. Follow the steps from the previous point to get to this place.

Deleting the name in the "Description" field (1) will restore the default name of the product (3) after saving (2). If the name is changed, the subscription name will be updated accordingly in all places (including the GK invoice).

Search and filter by subscription name

The subscription name is not only visible in the marketplace, it is also possible to search/filter by this name. The search field can be used to search for specific subscription names (or part of a name), e.g. to list all subscriptions booked with the same subscription name.

Example scenarios for using the subscription name

To help you better understand how you can make effective use of subscription names, we present two possible example scenarios.

Scenario 1

Use case: A customer has booked a product multiple times and wants to be able to distinguish between the different bookings.

Challenge: All products booked in the Telekom Cloud Marketplace have the same name after booking. This means that the individual subscriptions and their costs cannot be immediately and clearly assigned to different areas.

Solution: The customer assigns each booked subscription its own name as a distinguishing feature. The designations (subscription names) can be freely selected and allow the subscriptions to be efficiently differentiated according to, for example, cost centre, department, business unit, etc.

Scenario 2

Use case: A customer has booked several different products (possibly also in combination with multiple bookings of one product).

Challenge: The grouping of multiple subscriptions, e.g. to allocate costs to internal service recipients, is not immediately apparent.

Solution: The customer assigns each booked subscription its own designation as an allocation feature. The designations (subscription name) can be freely selected and allow efficient differentiation of the individual subscriptions, for example by cost centre, department, business unit, project, etc.

To simplify billing and licensing planning within your organisation, you can synchronise the renewal date for new subscriptions with those of existing ones. This works in the following scenarios:

• With a subscription with a term of one month, you can perform term synchronisation with both a one-month contract and a one-year contract.
• For a subscription with a term of one year, you can synchronise the term with a one-year contract.

Example 1: Suppose a company currently has an active annual subscription to Office 365 E5 that expires on 9 November 2024. On 15 March 2024, the company plans to purchase Office 365 E3 licences on a 1-year contract and intends to synchronise the subscriptions. The default end date for the new 1-year subscription is 14 March 2025. However, if an adjustment is made to the existing 1-year subscription, the end date of the new subscription will be synchronised with that of the existing subscription (9 November). This shortens the term of the new subscription and the costs are only charged on a pro-rata basis.

Example 2: Suppose a company has an ongoing 1-year subscription to Office 365 E3 that expires on 9 November 2024. On 15 March 2024, the company intends to purchase some Office 365 E3 licences for a monthly term and synchronise the subscriptions. The default end date for the new 1-month subscription is 14 April 2024. However, if an adjustment is made to the existing 1-year subscription, the end date of the new subscription will be synchronised with that of the existing one. In this example, this corresponds to 9 April. In the first month, the term of the new subscription is shortened and the costs are only charged on a pro-rata basis.

You can set the term synchronisation when booking a product in the Telekom Cloud Marketplace during the booking process. The following steps are necessary for this. In the example, the term of a new booking for Microsoft 365 Copilot is to be synchronised with Microsoft 365 Business Standard – both on an annual contract.

Step 1: Go to the Microsoft 365 Copilot product page in the Telekom Cloud Marketplace.

Step 2: Click on the "Order now" button to access the order form for Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Step 3: There, in addition to the desired number of licences (1), you can also specify the subscription with which you want to synchronise your Microsoft 365 Business booking. If you have a valid subscription with a term of one year (12 months), you can select it under "Term synchronisation options" (2).

You can then follow the booking as usual.

Microsoft 365 and Office 365 are available in the Telekom Cloud Marketplace as free trial versions or for a fee with minimum contract terms of one month or twelve months. Trial versions of Microsoft 365 and Office 365 end automatically unless you upgrade to a paid version. Cancellation is not necessary in this case.

For paid editions, the contract period begins on the day the service is made available and can be terminated at the end of the agreed contract period (1 month or 12 months). You can cancel your subscription by following these steps:

Step 1: Open the product you want to change. To do this, follow the instructions in "Where can I find my booked products in the Telekom Cloud Marketplace?" at the top of this page.

Step 2: Click on "Cancel subscription" in the top right-hand corner and then confirm the cancellation.

Please note that … 

• ... You cannot cancel the subscription for your Microsoft product if there is an active add-on for your product. Please deactivate the add-on before cancelling the product.
• ... the termination only becomes effective after the minimum contract period has expired.

The products marked with "Trial" in the Telekom Cloud Marketplace are trial versions of the respective Microsoft offerings. These allow you to test the functionality of the respective Microsoft products free of charge for one month.

Various Microsoft trial versions are available in the Telekom Cloud Marketplace, including Microsoft 365 Business, Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Project. If you want to test a product for which no specific trial version is offered, such as Exchange Online or SharePoint, you can do so using the corresponding trial version of Microsoft 365 or Office 365.

The trial versions are time-limited full versions of the respective product. You can test all functions for one month. The trial versions are equipped with 25 seats each, so you can also test various administration functions.

To book one of the trial versions of Microsoft products, you need an account for the Telekom Cloud Marketplace. The available trial versions are assigned to the respective Microsoft products. There, you can switch to the "Prices" tab and then click on "Try for 1 month". You will then need to log in with your user account. The order process will start on the next page. No payment details are required to order a trial version.

Trial versions of Microsoft products that you have booked with Telekom expire automatically at the end of the one-month trial period and are not converted to a paid version.

When your Microsoft 365 trial subscription expires, you can download your data, such as emails and documents on team websites. Microsoft recommends backing up your data when the trial period expires. After the trial period expires, you can still access your account and the data associated with your Microsoft 365 account for 90 days with administrator privileges, but with limited functionality. After this period, the data will be deleted.