Telecommunications companies like AT&T, BT Group, and Orange are preparing to tap into a new revenue source: their old copper wiring. As the migration to fiber-optic cable continues, these companies could recover as much as 800,000 metric tons of copper over the next decade. This copper is worth more than $7 billion at today’s prices, according to estimates from TXO, a UK-based firm that provides engineering services to the industry.
The demand for copper, a critical component of electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines, and other clean-energy infrastructure, is expected to grow more than 50% by 2040. Mining is becoming more difficult and expensive, and the anticipated squeeze has already driven prices up 50% from pre-pandemic levels.
AT&T has already recycled more than 14,000 tons of copper between 2021 and 2023 and expects the business to increase. The company is currently working with four copper reclamation centers in the US and plans to add more. Openreach, a subsidiary of BT, estimates it can recover up to 200,000 tons of copper through the 2030s.
After the cables are pulled out of the ground, they have to be stripped and cleaned to obtain the copper, which can then be sold to domestic and international buyers. At prices between $6,000 to $9,000 per ton, profit can top 30% after extraction, recovery, and processing costs. Despite the potential profits, some copper cables may have to remain to avoid major disruptions, including maintaining access to critical health services in some places. However, the additional supply would be welcomed by the industry.
Read more: finance.yahoo.com