BIP.Verco explores how smarter resource use is reshaping the economics of telecoms infrastructure, with real-world examples of circularity opportunities from Cellnex.

At a glance 

• For TowerCos, circularity is a commercial strategy, not just an environmental one; it can improve margins, reduce capital intensity, extend asset life and open new revenue streams. 

• BIP.Verco research with Oxford Saïd MBA candidates points to a substantial prize: tens of thousands of tonnes of CO₂ avoided and tens of millions of euros in annual value unlocked. 

• The market is already moving, with American Tower, Vodafone and Cellnex demonstrating recovery, resale and eco-design at scale. 

• Five areas turn isolated initiatives into scalable models: strategy and governance, lifecycle asset management, circular procurement, reverse logistics and recovery, and data and digital enablement.

Why the linear model is running out of road 

Circularity is often framed too narrowly, isolated to reducing waste, recycling materials and lowering carbon. For TowerCos, the opportunity is considerably broader when applied strategically. Circularity improves margins, reduces capital intensity, extends the productive life of infrastructure, strengthens tenant propositions and creates entirely new revenue streams. 

The telecoms industry underpins the modern economy. It connects billions of people and enables everything from remote working and digital services to artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and autonomous systems. Behind these networks sit thousands of towers, rooftop sites and supporting assets that must be built, powered, maintained and continually adapted to meet rising demand for connectivity. TowerCos operate in a highly dynamic, demand-led environment.​ Infrastructure doesn’t always follow a neat, planned trajectory.​ Demand for connectivity often emerges faster than supporting infrastructure, energy systems, or even regulation can keep up.​ 

Over the past decade, rapid expansion driven by mobile data and the rollout of 4G and 5G has established TowerCos as core infrastructure players, sitting at the intersection of telecom operators, energy systems and increasingly complex digital ecosystems. Yet much of the industry still runs on a predominantly linear model: build, operate, maintain, replace. 

That model is becoming more expensive, less efficient and, in some markets, increasingly untenable. TowerCos manage extensive portfolios of physical assets, including towers, batteries, generators and cooling systems, alongside significant energy requirements, land constraints, and complex logistics and maintenance across widely distributed networks. 

As the sector matures, infrastructure owners are looking beyond network expansion towards operational efficiency, resilience and profitability. At the same time, regulatory expectations, investor scrutiny and customer demand are raising the bar on sustainability performance. Together, these pressures build a powerful business case for circularity. 

The question is no longer simply how TowerCos can use fewer resources but how can those resources be used strategically to extract commercial value and extend the life of assets. 

The commercial opportunity is already emerging 

In partnership with Oxford Saïd MBA, research by BIP.Verco benchmarking circularity across leading European TowerCos indicates well-targeted interventions have the potential to avoid tens of thousands of tonnes of CO₂ while unlocking tens of millions of euros in annual value. The research identified four factors separating leaders from the rest: low-carbon materials, design for reuse, strong ecosystem partnerships and digital asset intelligence. 

The market is already moving: 

• American Tower has reported recovering 98% of tower steel across 17 countries, turning decommissioning into a potential revenue source. 

• Vodafone's internal equipment marketplace generated more than €8.5 million in a year, with 99.8% of equipment reused, resold or recycled. 

• Cellnex operates a multi-market eco-design programme and recovers 89% of its waste. 

Regulation is accelerating the shift. Frameworks including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and the EU's Digital Product Passport are raising the strategic importance of knowing where materials originate, how assets are used and what happens to them at end of first life. Circularity is therefore becoming relevant not only to sustainability and compliance, but to financing, investment and long-term competitiveness. 

Extending asset life: build once, monetise many times 

One of the most immediate opportunities lies in extending the life of assets already deployed. Towers may be designed to remain operational for around 50 years, yet in some cases are removed after just 20 to 25 because they were not originally designed with adequate capacity for future requirements. When that happens, capital and embedded value are lost long before an asset reaches the end of its technical life. 

The evolution of mobile technology has intensified the challenge. Modern multi-band 5G equipment places significantly greater weight, wind-loading and power demands on existing infrastructure, so sites without adequate structural and electrical capacity may require costly reinforcement or replacement. Circular design, particularly design for disassembly and modularity, fundamentally changes this equation. 

By building infrastructure where components can be upgraded, replaced, reused and redeployed without rebuilding an entire site, TowerCos establish what is effectively a distributed 'material bank' across their portfolios. Designing in sufficient structural and power capacity for future multi-tenancy allows a site to accommodate additional tenants, improving returns while avoiding costly modifications later. 

The principle is simple: build once and monetise many times. 

Energy: from cost base to strategic asset 

Energy is often one of the largest operating cost lines for a TowerCo, but it does not need to stay an overhead. Through on-site generation and storage, intelligent load management and closer integration with broader energy systems, energy can become a service rather than just a cost. 

TowerCos own and operate thousands of geographically distributed sites, many already equipped with power infrastructure, battery storage and backup generation. Managed strategically, these capabilities can become a monetisable infrastructure layer, opening opportunities such as energy services for tenants and creating competitive differentiation in tenders. 

This is an important shift in thinking: from energy as a cost base to energy as a strategic asset. 

Materials and decommissioning: recovering embedded value 

The same principle applies to materials, waste streams and decommissioned equipment. Telecoms infrastructure contains significant quantities of steel, copper, batteries and electronic equipment, and many components retain useful operational life even when they are no longer required at their original location. 

Rather than treating decommissioning as a disposal cost, TowerCos can build structured processes for de-installation, material segregation, testing, refurbishment, remanufacturing, redeployment and resale. The commercial benefits include new recovery revenues, lower disposal and input costs, reduced demand for newly purchased materials, and lower exposure to commodity-price volatility. 

From isolated initiatives to scalable business models 

The challenge is not simply identifying individual opportunities. It is turning them into scalable, repeatable commercial models. As networks densify, modular and reusable design can reduce the cost per deployed node, shorten deployment times and lower the capital intensity of expansion. That matters most in a market where growth may increasingly be constrained by economics rather than demand. 

However, the right approach will vary by market. Although the TowerCo model is global in many respects, the commercial viability of circular strategies is heavily influenced by geography, regulation, energy pricing, market maturity and infrastructure constraints: 

• Mature European markets: regulatory pressure, carbon targets and energy pricing tend to drive opportunities around asset efficiency and energy-system integration. 

• Rapidly urbanising Asian markets: density and space constraints create different opportunities around infrastructure sharing and multi-use site design. 

The most effective strategies combine standardisation at scale with the flexibility to adapt to local operating conditions. 

Five areas that turn ambition into action 

For TowerCos moving from individual initiatives to scalable circular models, five areas are critical: