Traditionally, an incumbent telecoms operator is vertically integrated and delivers all functions – network build and operations; product design and development; and retail sales and service. This integration carries a tension between the incumbent’s role as provider of wholesale services to its competitors, and its activities as a retail competitor. Around the world regulators and governments have considered separation of the incumbent operator as a way of resolving this tension. In this Insight we set out, from a public interest perspective, why and how such a separation might be implemented.