BT is positioned to receive substantial financial returns from the sale of surplus copper cabling as the company transitions the United Kingdom’s telecommunications infrastructure to full-fibre broadband technology. The company has already received £99 million in upfront payments from EMR, the country’s largest cable granulation company, marking the second such payment after an initial £105 million in 2024.
Copper prices have reached unprecedented levels due to growing global demand across artificial intelligence datacentres, electronics manufacturing, and renewable energy sectors. The metal achieved its highest-ever closing price earlier this year and has continued trading at elevated levels. Forward sale agreements between BT and EMR are understood to cover approximately 20,000 tonnes of copper per four-year period, with the potential for additional revenue if BT sells recycled copper on the spot market.
BT’s copper recovery operations have accelerated significantly. The company recovered nearly 10,000 tonnes in the year ending March, nearly three times the volume from the previous year and representing a substantial increase from the initial 5,600 tonnes reported in 2025 results. Since launching its cable stripping and recycling program in 2023, BT has recovered a total of 22,347 tonnes. Openreach, the company’s subsidiary managing the full-fibre rollout to 30 million homes, expects to ultimately recover approximately 200,000 tonnes as the legacy network is decommissioned through the 2030s.
At current market valuations, BT’s total recoverable copper could be worth £2 billion or more, surpassing previous estimates of £1.5 billion. Industry analysts project copper demand will nearly double globally by 2035, intensifying pressure on supply chains. However, elevated copper prices have also prompted increased theft of cabling from telephone networks, railways, and wind farms. Openreach has implemented anti-theft measures including synthetic DNA tracing applied to underground cables, resulting in a 30% reduction in copper theft in 2024 compared to prior years.
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