BT set for £2bn gain from copper sales as fibre rollout accelerates

BT is positioned to secure an estimated windfall of more than £2bn over the coming decade by selling surplus copper cabling. The telecoms operator stands to benefit significantly from rising global metal prices, which have been driven by increased demand for electrification in artificial intelligence datacentres, electronics and renewable energy sectors. This financial opportunity arises as the company transitions the United Kingdom’s network infrastructure towards full-fibre broadband, a process that involves removing legacy copper lines that are no longer required for service delivery.

The value of this asset has increased sharply as copper reached its highest-ever closing price of $14,294 a metric tonne on Friday. This figure is close to the record intraday high of $14,500 achieved earlier this year, a period marked by concerns over global supply shortages. BT has established a recycling partnership with EMR, identified as the UK’s largest cable granulation company, under which it has already received £99m upfront for thousands of tonnes of stripped copper. This payment represents the second such advance received by the company, following an initial £105m payment in 2024, as it progresses with its plan to connect 30m homes via its Openreach subsidiary by the end of the decade.

The forward sale agreements with EMR are understood to cover the delivery of approximately 20,000 tonnes of copper over four-year periods. These contracts do not account for any additional revenue BT may generate by selling recycled copper on the spot market. The company reported recovering a record nearly 10,000 tonnes in the year to the end of March, a volume almost three times greater than the amount managed in the equivalent period of 2024. Since commencing the stripping and selling of cabling in 2023, BT has recovered a total of 22,347 tonnes. This recent record haul is 63% higher than the 5,600 tonnes reported in BT’s 2025 results, occurring at a time when market conditions are particularly favourable for the operator.

Mike McTighe, chair of Openreach, acknowledged the potential financial benefits of the market surge in BT’s latest annual report. He noted that the company recovered 9,147 tonnes from the network for recycling during a period of unprecedented global demand. While the precise details of the contract with EMR, which initially runs until 2028, remain undisclosed, the market value of the expected copper extraction had previously been estimated at £1.5bn. However, current market prices and projected supply constraints suggest the total tonnage could now be valued at over £2bn. S&P Global expects copper demand to double from 25m metric tonnes to about 50m by 2035, further supporting the asset’s value.

Abby Chicken, head of sustainability at Openreach, described copper as one of the most strategic materials in the modern economy. She stated that retiring parts of the legacy network allows the company to reduce waste and support the UK’s energy transition towards renewables. By keeping a critical resource in circulation, the programme helps alleviate pressure on global supply chains. Openreach expects to recover up to 200,000 tonnes of high-grade recycled copper as the programme continues through the 2030s.

The rising value of copper has also increased the risk of theft across the telephone network, railways and windfarms. In the past year, incidents in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, resulted in nearly a mile of underground cables being damaged. In 2024, thefts in the New Forest affected 128 premises, while incidents in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, left hundreds of homes and businesses with connectivity issues. In response, Openreach has implemented anti-theft measures, including coating miles of underground cables with a synthetic DNA and UV tracer known as SelectaDNA. This technology, which transfers easily to hands and clothing, is widely used across the network. Openreach reported a 30% fall in copper theft in 2024, attributed to this deployment, although the technology cannot be applied to cables already underground, leaving those assets vulnerable to further criminal activity.