BT could earn $2.7 billion from recycling 200,000 tons of copper from legacy network

Network Upgrade and Copper Recovery

BT, the UK's largest telecommunications provider, is in the process of upgrading its entire network to fiber optics, moving residential connections away from older copper infrastructure. This transition involves the recovery of significant quantities of copper cabling from the legacy network.

The company has already recovered over 22,000 metric tons of copper since the upgrade began. BT's subsidiary, Openreach, estimates that an additional 200,000 metric tons of material could be recovered as the upgrade continues into the 2030s.

Financial Implications of Copper Recycling

BT has signed a deal with EMR, a cable recycling company, for the recovery of approximately 200,000 tons of copper over four years. EMR has already paid over $134 million (GBP 99 million) for a portion of the recovered copper. BT and Openreach also have the option to sell recovered copper directly on the spot market.

With copper prices currently around $14,000 per metric ton, the estimated 200,000 metric tons of recoverable copper could generate between $2.7 billion and $2.8 billion in revenue for BT.

AI Demand Driving Copper Prices

The current high price of copper is partly attributed to increased demand from the artificial intelligence (AI) sector. While AI data centers are adopting optical interconnects internally, their significant power requirements necessitate large amounts of metal cabling for power transmission.

Copper is the preferred material for power cables due to its electrical conductivity, durability, and thermal performance. As AI hyperscalers expand their operations and build more data centers, the demand for copper wires for power infrastructure is expected to increase, contributing to sustained high prices.