Wholesale explainer

Wholesale DID numbers explained

In short

Wholesale DID numbering means buying virtual phone numbers in volume to build a service on top of — reselling them, powering a contact-centre platform, or embedding them in a product. It differs from retail in scale, in provisioning through a portal or API rather than one at a time, and in consumption-based billing without per-line subscriptions.

Last reviewed: 8 August 2026 · For business and carrier use

This page is written for businesses and carriers that buy numbers to build on, not for a single company sourcing a line or two for its own phone system. It is for resellers (businesses that provide numbers to their own end customers under their own brand), contact-centre platforms, CPaaS (Communications Platform as a Service — software that exposes voice and messaging through an API) and SaaS builders embedding voice in a product, and smaller carriers extending their coverage.

A DID (Direct Inward Dialing) number, also called a virtual number, is a public phone number provisioned online and delivered over the internet rather than tied to a physical line. Wholesale means buying those numbers in volume as an input to a service you operate; retail means buying a small number of lines as the end user of them. This is a carrier and B2B page: if you want a single number for internal use, retail self-service is the simpler route.

On this page

  1. What are wholesale DID numbers?
  2. Who buys wholesale numbering?
  3. How does wholesale differ from retail?
  4. How is wholesale billing structured?
  5. What should you verify in a wholesale relationship?
  6. Talk about volume
  7. FAQ

What are wholesale DID numbers?

Wholesale DID numbers are numbers you buy in volume as an input to your own service rather than as an end user of them. The distinction is not the numbers themselves — a wholesale DID and a retail DID are the same kind of public number delivered over SIP (Session Initiation Protocol — the signalling standard for internet calls). The difference is your relationship to them: in wholesale you acquire numbers to resell, to route through a platform you run, or to embed in a product, and your own customers or systems are the users. You take numbers from live inventory across many markets and number types, and you build on top of them.

Who buys wholesale numbering?

Wholesale numbering is bought by anyone whose business is built on numbers rather than a company that just needs a line. Resellers buy in volume and provide numbers to their own end customers. Contact-centre platforms provision numbers for the campaigns and queues their clients run. CPaaS and SaaS products embed voice — click-to-call, verification, notifications — and need numbers on demand behind their own API (Application Programming Interface — the programmatic interface a system calls to order and configure numbers). Smaller carriers buy wholesale to extend coverage into markets where they hold no numbering of their own. What these buyers share is scale, programmatic provisioning, and a step between the numbering source and the final user.

How does wholesale differ from retail?

Retail and wholesale describe the same numbers bought under different terms. Retail is aimed at the end user of a handful of lines, provisioned one at a time through a self-service checkout, and usually billed as a fixed monthly charge per line. Wholesale is aimed at buyers who take numbers in volume, provision them through a portal or API, and are billed on consumption. The table sets out the practical differences.

Aspect Retail Wholesale
Who it's for End users buying a line or two for their own use. Resellers, platforms, CPaaS and carriers building a service on numbers.
Volume A small, fixed set of numbers. Numbers taken in volume across many markets and types.
Provisioning One at a time through a self-service checkout. Programmatic through a portal and API, on demand.
Billing Fixed monthly charge per line. Consumption-based per-route rates; no per-line subscription or minimums.
Support / integration Standard self-service support. Technical integration, live inventory access and route-level support.

How is wholesale billing structured?

Wholesale billing is consumption-based: you pay for the numbers and traffic you actually provision, at per-route rates, rather than a flat fee per line. There is no monthly base fee, no minimum commitment, and no lock-in — costs track the volume you use rather than a fixed headcount of lines. Because rates are per route, a number in one market and a number in another are priced according to the path behind them, and you see the applicable rate for each before you order. This model suits buyers whose volume moves with their own customers, testing new markets, or scales up over time. See how consumption billing works here in the pricing model.

What should you verify in a wholesale relationship?

Before committing volume to a wholesale supplier, check the things that determine whether it can carry your service. Verify coverage and number-type depth against live inventory, not a marketing map — the exact countries and types you need should be in stock. Check provisioning speed and the quality of the API and portal, because at volume you provision programmatically and slow or thin tooling becomes your bottleneck. Ask how KYC (Know Your Customer — the identity and eligibility checks attached to number ranges) is handled at scale, since the requirements pass through to your end users. Confirm porting (moving an existing number between providers while keeping the number) works both in and out, so you can bring numbers across and are not locked in. And test route quality on real traffic. For a full scorecard, see how to choose a provider.

Talk about volume

If you are building on numbers at volume, contact sales to discuss routing, coverage and the volume you expect. You can also start self-serve by creating an account, which exposes live inventory and per-route rates directly. To go deeper on the products behind a wholesale build, see DID numbers, SIP trunking, and the coverage table.

Frequently asked questions

What does wholesale DID mean?

Wholesale DID means buying Direct Inward Dialing numbers in volume as an input to a service you operate, rather than as a single end user. You take numbers through a portal or API and build on top of them — reselling, running a contact-centre platform, or embedding voice in a product — instead of using one line for your own calls.

Who should buy wholesale numbers instead of retail?

Anyone building a service on numbers rather than consuming a single line: resellers, contact-centre and CPaaS platforms, SaaS products that embed voice, and smaller carriers extending coverage. If you provision at volume, integrate through an API, and pass numbers to your own end users, wholesale fits. If you need one or two lines for internal use, retail is simpler.

Can I provision wholesale numbers through an API?

Yes. A wholesale relationship is built around a portal and an API (Application Programming Interface) so you can search inventory, order numbers, and configure routing programmatically at scale. This lets a platform provision numbers on demand for its own customers without buying each one by hand, which is the main practical difference from retail self-service.

How is wholesale billing different from retail?

Wholesale billing is consumption-based: you pay per-route rates for the numbers and traffic you actually use, with no per-line subscription, no monthly base fee, and no minimum commitment. Retail typically bundles a fixed monthly charge per line. The wholesale model scales with your real usage, so costs track the volume you provision rather than a flat headcount of lines.

Can I resell numbers I buy wholesale?

Yes. Reselling is a standard use of wholesale numbering: you provide numbers to your own end customers under your brand. The same KYC (Know Your Customer) and regulatory requirements that apply to each number pass through to your end users, so you are responsible for collecting the identity and eligibility evidence a given market and number type require.