Actually, it can run to thousands of pounds. Very little of it is in the form or electrical power line (as you are probably envisioning). Most of it is in the form of the actual transmission lines that service each antenna and, if the sight employs any microwave paths, the wave guide for the microwave path (usually two runs, main and diversity).
If you haven't guessed, I work for a wireless phone company, and while I don't climb the towers myself, I do work with the tower crews and I work with the equipment that is connected to the top. If a tower is "sectorized", i.e., divided into three or even four sectors (rather than omni-directional), you will have a lot of copper lines running up. For instance, one sector will have at least two antennas (sometimes three or four), each one serviced by a line. In our case, we use 1 and 5/8" lines (some use smaller, some use bigger) that have two "tubes" of copper separated by a foam barrier running up the antennas. If we have a four sectored site, with three antennas per sector, that is a total of twelve lines, times the length of the run (sometimes well over 300 ft.) of copper.
This is just a very simplified description of what is actually on a typical tower, but I think you can start to see why it attracts these kinds of thieves. The good news is that they probably didn't get much of it, as likely someone was paged out and dispatched to the sight as soon as service was lost, and it takes longer than you would think to get those lines out of the clips or wire ties that hold them there, even if you are just chopping and stacking.
Wow! Thanks for the great info.
Just curious,what $ loss would you estimate on
a destroyed cell tower?