Key facts
- BT anticipates a windfall exceeding £2 billion from selling its old copper network over the next decade.
- Copper prices have hit record highs, driven by demand from AI data centers, electronics, and the renewable energy sector.
- BT has secured forward sale agreements with EMR for thousands of tonnes of stripped copper, receiving substantial upfront payments.
- The company recovered a record amount of copper in the past year, with expectations to extract up to 200,000 tonnes by the 2030s.
- Soaring copper prices and projected future supply crunches could see BT's entire copper tonnage valued at over £2 billion.
BT is on track to generate over £2 billion in the next decade by selling off its old copper network infrastructure, a move significantly boosted by the current surge in copper prices. This windfall is largely attributed to the escalating demand for copper driven by the AI market, the broader 'electrification of everything,' and the expansion of renewable energy industries.
Copper recently reached its highest-ever closing price, nearing $14,500 per metric tonne, fueled by global shortage concerns. BT has a recycling partnership with EMR, the UK's largest cable granulation firm. Under forward sale agreements, BT has already received substantial upfront payments, including £99 million in 2024 and £105 million previously, for thousands of tonnes of stripped copper.
In the year ending March, BT recovered a record nearly 10,000 tonnes of copper, more than tripling the amount from the previous year. Since beginning its copper stripping and selling program in 2023, the company has sold a total of 22,347 tonnes. Openreach, BT's infrastructure division, anticipates recovering up to 200,000 tonnes of high-grade recycled copper as it transitions customers to full-fibre broadband through the 2030s.
With current market prices and projected demand growth—expected to double to 50 million metric tonnes by 2035—BT's entire copper tonnage could be valued at over £2 billion. Abby Chicken, head of sustainability at Openreach, emphasized copper's strategic importance in the modern economy and the environmental benefits of recycling this critical resource.
The high value of copper has also led to an increase in theft. To combat this, Openreach has implemented anti-theft measures, including coating cables with a synthetic DNA tracer called SelectaDNA. This technology has contributed to a reported 30% decrease in copper cable theft in 2024.