GPT-5.6 Sol unavailable on Microsoft for Startups subscription – Free Tier and 0 TPM in every region

I am using a verified Microsoft for Startups Azure subscription with active Azure credits.

We are preparing the production deployment of a B2B SaaS application and need to use:

• Model: gpt-5.6-sol
• Version: 2026-07-09
• Platform: Microsoft Foundry / Azure OpenAI
• Intended API: Responses API

The model is visible in the Microsoft Foundry model catalog, but it cannot be deployed because the subscription currently has 0 TPM / no deployable capacity for GPT-5.6 Sol.

The Foundry resource itself is healthy and located in France Central.

What I have already verified

1. Subscription quota tier

I checked the subscription quota tier directly through the Azure Management API from Azure Cloud Shell.

Command:

SUBSCRIPTION_ID=$(az account show --query id -o tsv)

az rest --method get \
  --url "https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/$SUBSCRIPTION_ID/providers/Microsoft.CognitiveServices/quotaTiers?api-version=2025-10-01-preview" \
  --query 'value[].properties.{Tier:currentTierName,Assigned:assignmentDate,UpgradePolicy:tierUpgradePolicy}' \
  -o table

Result:

Tier       Assigned                      UpgradePolicy
---------  ----------------------------  ----------------------
Free Tier  2026-09-01T20:00:53Z          OnceUpgradeIsAvailable

So the subscription is currently assigned to:

currentTierName: Free Tier
tierUpgradePolicy: OnceUpgradeIsAvailable

2. GPT-5.6 Sol capacity across Azure regions

I then queried the Azure Cognitive Services modelCapacities API specifically for GPT-5.6 Sol.

Command:

az rest --method get \
  --url "https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/$SUBSCRIPTION_ID/providers/Microsoft.CognitiveServices/modelCapacities?api-version=2024-10-01&modelFormat=OpenAI&modelName=gpt-5.6-sol&modelVersion=2026-07-09" \
  --query 'value[].{Region:location,Type:properties.skuName,Available:properties.availableCapacity}' \
  -o table

The API returned GPT-5.6 Sol entries across many Azure regions, but Available = 0 for every region and deployment type returned for this subscription.

Examples:

Region              Type                        Available
------------------  --------------------------  ---------
australiaeast       GlobalStandard              0
australiaeast       DataZoneStandard            0
westeurope          GlobalStandard              0
westeurope          DataZoneStandard            0
eastus              GlobalStandard              0
eastus              DataZoneStandard            0
eastus2             GlobalStandard              0
eastus2             DataZoneStandard            0
uksouth             GlobalStandard              0
francecentral       GlobalStandard              0
francecentral       DataZoneStandard            0
swedencentral       GlobalStandard              0
swedencentral       DataZoneStandard            0
germanywestcentral  GlobalStandard              0
germanywestcentral  DataZoneStandard            0
italynorth          GlobalStandard              0
italynorth          DataZoneStandard            0
spaincentral        GlobalStandard              0
spaincentral        DataZoneStandard            0
centralus           GlobalStandard              0
centralus           DataZoneStandard            0
canadacentral       GlobalStandard              0
japaneast           GlobalStandard              0
southindia          GlobalStandard              0

The complete API response showed the same Available = 0 situation across all other regions exposed to this subscription.

This therefore does not appear to be only a France Central regional issue.

3. Official quota request already submitted

I also submitted an official Azure OpenAI quota request for:

Model: GPT-5.6 Sol
Deployment type: Data Zone Standard
Pool: EUR

The request was rejected with the following message:

The region you requested a quota increase in is not available to expand capacity at this time.

The response suggested trying additional regions.

However, the Azure modelCapacities API currently reports 0 available capacity for GPT-5.6 Sol in every region and pool exposed to this subscription, including Global Standard.

The bootstrap problem

This creates a difficult situation:

1. The Microsoft for Startups subscription has 0 initial GPT-5.6 Sol TPM.
2. Therefore GPT-5.6 Sol cannot be deployed.
3. Because it cannot be deployed, we cannot generate GPT-5.6 Sol production traffic.
4. Quota requests indicate that priority may be given to customers already consuming their existing quota.
5. But our existing quota is zero.

Azure credits themselves are active and other Azure production/pre-production workloads are already generating real Azure consumption.

The problem therefore appears to be related to the initial Azure OpenAI quota tier / entitlement, rather than billing or Azure credit availability.

What I am trying to determine

Is an initial Tier 1 / GPT-5.6 Sol entitlement required before a Microsoft for Startups subscription can deploy this model?

If so, what is the correct process to obtain that initial entitlement when the subscription currently reports:

currentTierName = Free Tier

and:

gpt-5.6-sol availableCapacity = 0

across every region?

We are flexible regarding deployment location and deployment type.

We would be happy to use:

• Data Zone Standard EUR, preferably;
• or Global Standard in any region with available capacity.

We would also accept a small initial TPM allocation.

Our immediate goal is simply to deploy GPT-5.6 Sol, begin generating legitimate production traffic, and progressively scale the quota according to actual usage.

The workload is a real production B2B SaaS application using GPT-5.6 Sol for complex automotive diagnostic reasoning, long-context analysis, image understanding, Responses API workflows and web research.

Our production migration is planned within approximately two weeks.

Any clarification from the Azure OpenAI / Microsoft Foundry quota team, or experience from another Microsoft for Startups customer who encountered the same situation, would be greatly appreciated.