Re: BT Cabling Home Phones
They've been pulling copper from under the streets for decades!
In the '80s, I worked for a telecom equipment supply company that was working with BT replacing the long distant trunks with fibre. I was told by one of the marketing people that the scrap value of the copper recovered, even then, was enough to buy the fibre, the equipment to add to the exchanges, and the cost of laying the fibre and recovering the copper, and still turn a profit.
In most places, it's only the so-called last mile that is still copper, and some of that will be aluminium.
But it's a diminishing return as you get closer to the last mile. I'm sure that once you get to FTTP provision, the cost or recovering the copper cable will not be worth it. at least not until all of the last-mile in an area has been replaced and they can just rip the whole lot out wholesale.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
