Copper Theft Deterrents a Hot Top for Standards Group

November 21, 2013

The wireless industry is fed up with the continuous barrage of thieves ripping out its grounding systems.

It has submitted a proposal for guidelines for copper theft deterrent best practices to the Sustainability in Telecom: Energy and Protection (STEP) committee of ATIS, an organization that develops the standards for the information and communications technology industry. STEP, which is headed by Alcatel Lucent, AT&T and Ericsson, develops telecom equipment standards for energy efficiency, environmental impacts, power and protection.

ERICO executives have stepped up to help in the theft-deterrent guideline process, at the request of engineers at Verizon Wireless.

The industry has been floundering in its attempts to deter copper theft, with sites suffering multiple thefts, Jeff Regan, ERICO regional telecom manager, told AGL Link.

“When copper theft occurs, carriers go in and replace the copper at the cost of thousands of dollars only to have it stolen again two weeks later. They replace that, and it is stolen again,” he said. “If they put in video cameras or sirens, it’s still not slowing down or stopping the copper theft.”

Carriers are looking for different options to deter the thieves, which is where companies such as ERICO come in. They offer a way to ground the cell towers without the sought-after copper, using metals that do not have the same value as copper.

ATIS STEP is considering various theft-deterrent solutions that are available in the market today, including theft-deterrent cable, tamper-resistant hardware, theft-deterrent coatings, tinned-copper conductors, galvanized-steel ground bars, armored cable and copper-bonded steel conductor.

Testing methods must be developed for alternatives to copper that draw out an equivalence to copper for electrical performance under surge conditions. Components must be tested under simulated conditions for long-term corrosion, including alkaline testing for material used above ground. Guidelines would also include testing that already exists elsewhere, such as UL standard certification recognition.

“The grounding products must be equal to what they currently have, so they must be tested to ensure they are equal to copper,” Regan said.

ATIS STEP will also look at best practices in installation, procedures and solutions to reduce copper theft in cell tower grounding, bonding and power systems. In addition to copper replacement, security methods will also be studied.

Regan’s company, ERICO, solves the problem by replacing copper with a non-copper product that has been used by the rail industry to deter copper theft for more than two decades. The utility industry has also been using non-copper products.

“With thieves stealing copper grounding from the wireless industry’s cell sites, the carriers have asked for non-copper products that are applicable to their grounding needs,” Regan said.

The major cellular carriers are anxiously looking for copper theft-deterrent solutions, but Regan noted that setting guidelines is not a quick process. “It won’t happen overnight, they have issues they want to fix right now, but it is not that easy,” he said.