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The deal will support the extraction and recycling of copper cable from BT’s network until 2028
BT has secured £105 million from the sale of its surplus copper cables, according to a Guardian article published today.
The deal with global recycler EMR (European Metal Recycling) involves selling copper granules from the 3,300 tonnes of copper cables that BT has already removed in its journey to upgrade the nation’s infrastructure to full fibre.
BT’s ongoing fibre rollout aims to reach 25 million homes by 2026, with potential to recover up to 200,000 tonnes of copper over the next decade.
According to the Guardian article, it is currently too early to estimate the full financial value of BT’s copper, although it is considered a significant revenue stream for BT. Back in May, Openreach explained to Bloomberg that “recovering the copper cables generates a net income, even after the costs of extracting the cables and processing them.”
“As we look to recover and reuse scarce resources like copper in line with our commitment to sustainability, we estimate that as we replace old copper networks with fibre, we’ll be able to recover up to 200,000 tonnes of copper through the 2030s – in line with customer migrations,” said Openreach.
Earlier this year, a report from engineering firm TXO said that telecoms companies around the world could expect to recover up to 800,000 tons of copper by 2035, worth up to $7 billion at today’s prices. Post-pandemic, the price of copper has risen by nearly 50%, and this is set to grow even more by 2040. While becoming obsolete in the telecoms industry, the metal is widely used in other industries, such as electric vehicles and renewable energy.
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