Copper theft is growing problem across many industries. According to a 2009
survey published by the Electrical
Safety Foundation International about copper theft, utilities in the
United States reported approximately $60 million in losses and 450,000
minutes of outage time annually because of theft. Additionally,
utilities report 35 to 50 deaths or injuries associated with copper
theft every year. While the wireless industry does not have any official
copper theft statistics, there have been reports
stating copper theft is costly and only getting worse.