The development of optical fiber pushes telecommunications companies to accelerate the replacement of their copper cable network each year. The sale of this red gold could bring them collectively $10 billion in the next 15 years.
The trend is inevitable: the development of optical fiber marks the end of the old copper-based cable networks which enabled the development of landline telephones and then ADSL internet access.
In France for example, Orange, owner of the copper cable network, plans to decommission it by 2030according to Arcep, the regulatory authority for electronic communications, posts and press distribution. In the world, most telecommunications companies will have turned the page on copper by 2035, according to the Analysys Mason firm, cited by the Financial Times.
Last year, the resale of copper brought in $720 million, according to TXTa company that helps operators recycle metal. Within 15 years, the windfall that will be received by telecommunications groups is estimated at 10 billion dollars.
This does not mean the jackpot, however. Several operators even claim to make a negligible profit due to the complexity of the process of extracting copper from the cables, before recycling it to make a raw material that can be marketed again.
Complex but intensifying recycling
Even if the operation is expensive, copper prices are expected to increase in the coming years, and this has not escaped the attention of those who have already intensified their recycling efforts, such as the American company AT&T.
-The industrialist announces that it has extracted and resold more than 32,000 tonnes of red gold since 2021. The list of those who have embarked on the same path is long: we can cite the Swedish Telia, which announces that it has already received 25 million euros via the resale of copper from its cables, or the Norwegian Telenor, which hopes to recover 68 million euros in the coming years according to the Financial Times.
This recycled copper is added to the existing mining offer, on a market that is set to tighten in the coming years. Because it conducts electricity like no other metal, copper is a key component of electric vehicle batteries, and therefore directly associated with the energy transition.
The industry could need 70% more copper by 2050 compared to 2021, reaching 50 million tonnes per year, according to the BHP group. But due to lack of sufficient mining investments in recent years, copper deficit might arrive sooner than expected.
Also readCopper price at its highest in 14 months
Also readSoaring copper whets the appetite of Australian giant BHP Billiton
