As BT and Openreach continue to sink billions of pounds into the full fibre build, the Guardian noted that the carrier has struck a deal with a recycling company and sold it copper granules created from surplus copper cables that are being replaced by its new full-fibre network. “As we look to recover and reuse scarce resources like copper in line with our commitment to sustainability, we estimate that as we replace old copper networks with fibre, we’ll be able to recover up to 200,000 tonnes of copper through the 2030s – in line with customer migrations,” Openreach was quoted as saying. Indeed, copper is so valuable that it has become virtually unusable in countries such as South Africa and India, due to the high numbers of thieves stealing the copper cables to sell for scrap value – a problem that also occurs in the United Kingdom (to a much lesser extent). The Guardian reported that BT has received £105 million in return for 3,300 tonnes of extracted copper cables, amid £15bn rollout of full-fibre broadband to 25 million homes in the UK by January 2027. It reportedly struck a deal with a bank and global recycler EMR to support the extraction and recycling of copper cable from its network until 2028. The carrier reportedly said that while its copper extraction programme continued and was being seen as a commercial revenue stream for BT Group, it was too early to provide any financial outlook on the copper value.
This Cyber News was published on www.silicon.co.uk. Publication date: Wed, 02 Oct 2024 11:43:04 +0000