The increasing use of spin-offs highlights an alternative B2B growth strategy that operators should consider

Telstra announced, in August 2025, that it had sold a 75% stake in Versent Group, its cloud services and digital transformation unit, to Infosys. This is one of the latest examples of telecoms operators spinning off B2B or digital service divisions into separate entities. Other examples include AT&T, which spun off its cyber-security unit in May 2024, Vodafone, which separated its IoT unit in April 2024, and Virgin Media O2 (VMO2), which spun-off its B2B division in May 2025.

Business services sit between two countervailing trends in telecoms. Some operators see B2B services as a central growth engine, and are acquiring to bolster this growth. Conversely, other operators are delayering their infrastructure and service layers, and, in some cases, are selling service divisions, in an effort to refocus on a narrow, core competency based on connectivity. Most attention has been given to operators acquiring business assets, but many are also selling, as the recent spin-offs demonstrate.