Telcos, do you want to turn old copper into cash? Here’s how.

• Extracta helps telcos to remove copper cables from their networks

• Copper is currently priced at an all-time high

• One shipping container with 40,000 pounds of salvaged copper is worth more than $100,000

There are several reasons why a telco with legacy copper cables might want to extract those cables.

First, copper is valuable. It’s currently priced at an all-time high of more than $5 per pound. And who doesn’t love found money? It’s like realizing those old comic books in your attic can be sold for thousands (my husband’s dream).

Secondly, some carriers, such as AT&T, are trying to convert large swathes of their copper plant to fiber. But when conduits are filled with copper, there sometimes isn’t room for fiber.

And third, most everyone in the telecom world is aware of the Wall Street Journal story that broke last year, revealing that old telecom networks in the U.S. still have a lot of copper cables. And a substantial number of these cables are covered in lead sheathing, which can pose health and environmental risks.

Turning copper lemons into lemonade

Fear not! A company called Extracta Group says it has the expertise to remove copper cables from telecom networks, even those covered in lead, and obtain the best market price for the salvaged copper.

Peter Aquino, founder of Mercury Access Group, is helping Extracta in an advisory capacity. Aquino said telcos can fund the whole extraction process by pulling out their unused copper and selling it on the commodities markets and still have money left to help pay for their fiber deployments.

Extracta CEO Antonio Belfort said the company has been in business since 2019, offering a complete system to remove copper from networks. The process begins with auditing the copper plant, which can be difficult because old records were not always updated. Then it does engineering to help telcos determine where the copper plant can be turned off completely and where it still needs to serve some customers. In areas where the copper plant is still being used, Extracta can compress existing copper into fewer cables to serve legacy customers. 

Alberto Scharffenorth, Extracta’s COO, said the company does so much more “than salvage companies who only know the recycling part.”

In terms of actually extracting the copper, Scharffenorth said, “The type of equipment we use is capable to pull the cables in a harmless way but also pre-process the cable so when it gets to the warehouse, it’s already pre-packed.”

He explained that the spacing between manholes is usually about 300 – 600 feet. Extracta is able to pull those lengths and then cut the cables in a safe manner. It handles aerial copper cables, similarly, going from pole to pole.

Finally, Extracta finds a buyer for the copper.

“We have developed a very big understanding of the copper market and have relationships with global buyers,” said Belfort.

There are several different types of copper cables: dry cables and gel cables, with small and large versions of each. And there are different numbers of pairs and gauges.

“The way that you classify stuff and package and sell them to the market: if you mess up all those cables, it’s going to be very difficult to extract maximum value. We have a very sophisticated way to classify the cables and sell them in the market,” said Belfort.

One shipping container with 40,000 pounds of salvaged copper is worth more than $100,000.

Asked if Extracta is working with AT&T or Verizon to remediate their lead-clad cables, Scharffenorth said, “We’re not currently engaged with the companies you said. We’re doing other projects in the country. We have retired lead cables previously.”

The Extracta executives said that sometimes this type of work is done in-house by large telcos.

Operators are motivated to remove the copper from their networks, not only because they can make money from salvage, but moving from copper to fiber saves on operating expenses. Fiber has much lower energy consumption.

In addition, telcos can often free up valuable real estate at their central offices because fiber doesn’t need as much space. Some of the legacy central offices are located in incredibly prime real estate in the middle of major cities.

At the time of publishing, copper futures were trading at $4.75, down .89% on the day, while scrap copper prices out at around $5.11.