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With the ongoing volatility of copper pricing creating a major concern for the telecommunications industry as telecoms operators traditionally use copper ground wire for network grounding and bonding, CommScope Inc. has developed a copper-alternative grounding wire designed to deter copper theft and lower maintenance costs for telecoms and data applications.

"The main customers for the wire and cable industry are the automotive, telecommunication and construction industries. In the past few years, these three have witnessed a rapid expansion and have led to an annual growth of about 25% in India. The government of India has begun to Focus primarily on public private partnerships with major infrastructure projects. With an investment need of about $450 billion until 2012, the infrastructure construction is the growth engine for the construction industry, especially for the development of the transport sector. "

"MANY of Jamaica's law enforcers are not aware of it yet, but thieves have been stepping up their game of stealing cables from leading telecommunications firms, then swapping them for guns, an investigation by the Jamaica Observer has uncovered."

Monday, 28 July 2008 \nGuangdong Chigo Air Conditioner, a large-sized modern enterprise integrating the development, production and sales of household and commercial air conditioners, recently announced its agent in Egypt successfully won the contract for the Huawei correspondence station in Egypt after seven hardworking months.\n\n Huawei is said to have already achieved 12.56 billion dollars sales revenue, becoming one of the top five global telecommunications equipment producer, now with primacy globally, especially in Africa. Contracts for the correspondence station of Huawei in Egypt were mainly in the hands of Carrier for a long time, which means other brands could not compete with it and usually did not pass the test phase. Because the equipment for each station was valued at over 300 thousand yuan, the AC units could not run for a long time without a reliable capability guarantee. Right now the first set of Chigo splits is already installed in the station.\n\nThe vice president of Chigo Overseas Marketing Department , Mr. Peter Liao, said :"The success of this project means a lot for us. The intergrated ability of Chigo is already at new stage, being the supplier of a globally famous communication company. The cooperation with Huawei is meaningful for Chigo's development in the North African and African markets." For the success of the Huawei project, Huawei's subsidiaries in Libya and Sudan have also started to cooperate with Chigo, reveals the company's press release. \n\n\n

We have to look into declaring copper as precious, or our economy will not be able to grow," said the Minister of Communications, Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, at the official opening of black-empowerment cable manufacturer Malesela Taihan Electrical Cable's new telecommunications cable manufacturing facility in Vereeniging.

Rohm and Haas Company has reported second quarter 2008 sales of $2,567 million, a 17% increase over the same period in 2007, with Electronic Materials and the chemical businesses outside North America delivering strong growth. The Electronic Materials Group comprises two reportable segments which provide materials for use in applications such as telecommunications, consumer electronics and household appliances. Sales for the Electronic Materials Group were $536 million in the second quarter of 2008, up 34% over the same period in 2007, reflecting the impact of acquisitions in Display Technologies as well as solid organic growth of Electronic Technologies. The Electronic Technologies segment is comprised of the company's Semiconductor Technologies, Circuit Board Technologies and Packaging and Finishing Technologies business units. Sales for the segment of $460 million were up 16% versus the second quarter of 2007, driven by strong growth in Asia for all business units. Sales in the second quarter excluding precious metals pass-through sales were up 15%. Semiconductor Technologies sales grew 13%, reflecting strong demand and favorable currencies, particularly in the Asia Pacific Region. Circuit Board Technologies sales increased 20% as compared to the same period last year, with solid growth in the Asia Pacific Region more than offsetting declines in North America. Packaging and Finishing Technologies sales rose 20% versus last year, primarily driven by strong growth in precious metal sales and in process sales. Adjusted pre-tax earnings for this segment of $107 million were up 11% from the second quarter of 2007, reflecting increased demand and favorable currencies, partially offset by higher metal costs and increased costs related to expansion efforts, including the new Asia Technical Center in Taiwan.\n\n\n

Growth in Asia is illustrated from this reporting at multiple levels of business - Opportunities are available for copper in a multitude of applications.

General Cable Corporation has announced its sales results for Q4 2008. In volume terms, sales in Q4 2008 contracted by 6.3% y-o-y. In the same period, operating income decreased by 17.8% y-o-y to US$76.4 million. The company attributed the decline in its operating income to weak demand in developed economies and lower capacity utilisation. Sales to Europe and North Africa contracted by 7.8% y-o-y, particularly due to lower demand and pricing for construction products in Spain, and weakening activity across Europe. In North America sales fell by 6.6% y-o-y, as the company experienced reduced demand for high metal content copper telecommunication and low voltage cables.

According to a study carried out by Sindicel, the Sao Paulo based non-ferrous metals association, Brazil's per capita copper consumption rose by 50% in 2002-2008 to 2.1 kg. Copper usage has grown 30% higher than the GDP growth in the same period. Sindicel's president Sergio Aredes said that the significant rise in copper usage reflects the growth in construction and high-tech products in the Brazilian economy. The association also announced that copper semis production in 2008 generated US$4.0B in revenues. Robust demand in 2008 was supported by strong consumption in the construction, energy, automotive, mining and steel sectors. But Sindicel anticipates that sales in 2009 will decline (construction by 15%, infrastructure by 19% and telecommunication wire and cable by 10%).

Ohio-based supplier of specialty copper alloy products Brush Engineered Materials Inc. reported second quarter results. Q2 2009 sales were US$174.1 million, 29% lower than the same period a year ago but an improvement of 29% from the first quarter this year. Net loss was US$0.8 million versus net income of US$7.2 million in Q2 2008. The Specialty Engineered Alloys segment reported Q2 sales of US$41.2 million, compared to sales of US$83.0 million the same period in 2008. Operating loss for Q2 was US$9.3 million compared to an operating profit of US$4.8 million a year ago. The decline in segment sales was primarily due to the effect of the severe global recession in key markets including telecommunications, computer, automotive electronics, oil and gas, aerospace and heavy equipment. A portion of the decline was due to lower metal prices. The company is foreseeing an improving order book and is expecting to generate a slight profit in Q3 this year with higher sales volume and positive impact from its cost-reduction activities.

"At the start of the decade, Network Rail was hit by a wave of cable thefts which approached 1,000 cases a year as the price of scrap copper and other industrial metals soared. New data show that thefts in England and Wales fell below 41,000 in the year 2013-14 - down from 60,000 in the previous 12 months. "In recent years, we have witnessed a huge reduction in the number of incidents of cable theft on the railway," said a Network Rail official. "Disruption caused by the crime has fallen tenfold since its peak in 2010-11, when passengers suffered more than 6,000 hours of delay." Raids on church roofs, to strip copper and lead sheeting - another traditional target for thieves seeking to supply unscrupulous metal dealers - have also subsided with the price of scrap. Other areas affected include telecommunications and power networks, road signs, memorials, libraries, schools and children's playgrounds."

The copper network is decaying, but who cares, its being substituted for mobility. Our research showed that across 2010 and 2011, looking at almost 100,000 fixed lines, that 21 per cent of these fixed lines had no call traffic at all.