Full Breakdown
BT’s Copper-Recycling Programme Poised to Generate £2 billion-Plus Windfall
8/31/2026, 9:53:06 PM
Core Event: Massive Copper Sales Fund BT’s Fibre Rollout
BT Group, through its Openreach subsidiary, is on track to earn more than £2 billion over the next decade by selling stripped copper recovered from its legacy telephone and broadband network. The revenue comes from forward-sale agreements with EMR, the UK’s largest cable-granulation firm, which have already delivered two upfront payments—£99 million for the latest haul and £105 million in 2024. The contracts cover roughly 20,000 tonnes of copper per four-year period, with the total amount recovered since the programme began in 2023 exceeding 22,000 tonnes.
Background & Context: Fibre Expansion and Global Copper Surge
Openreach is replacing copper lines with full-fibre broadband for an estimated 30 million homes by 2030. Global copper prices have surged, reaching a record closing price of $14,294 per metric tonne—near the intraday high of $14,500 earlier in the year—driven by fears of supply shortages.
Data & Statistics
- Recovered copper in the year to March 2026: nearly 10,000 tonnes, almost three times the haul for the same period in 2025.
- Cumulative recovery since 2023: 22,347 tonnes.
- Estimated market value of BT’s total copper tonnage at current prices: £2 billion-plus (up from a prior estimate of £1.5 billion).
- S&P Global projects global copper demand to rise from 25 million to about 50 million metric tonnes by 2035.
- Openreach’s anti-theft measures have cut copper-theft incidents by 30 % in 2024.
Official Statements & Responses
Mike McTighe, chair of Openreach, highlighted the financial benefit of the heightened market demand, noting the company’s ability to “recover even more copper cabling.” Openreach also reported a rise in theft attempts on underground cables, prompting the deployment of synthetic DNA and UV tracer technology (SelectaDNA) to deter criminals.
Verbatim Quotes
- “We recovered even more copper cabling,” — Mike McTighe
- “Copper has become one of the most strategic materials in the modern economy,” — Abby Chicken, the head of sustainability at Openreach
