The message 
from Peter Thomas  contains these words:

> AIUI, very little diging up of roads would be required - the ducting
> is already there. BT may wish to install sub duct to make it easier to
> blow in the fibres, but that is FAR cheaper than the cost of civils.
> There may also be a bonus in terms of the scrap copper as they will
> doubtless recover all the copper (and aluminium) cable currently run
> to the cabiinet. This in turn will free up even more duct space. There
> will also be a cost benefit as the fibres will be less susceptible to
> water ingress (There is a chance of hydrogen ingress attenuating the
> fibre, but this is a very small risk)


A month ago we had massive disruption here for several weeks because
another telecom company got a contract to link together various council
sites.  Possibly because of the council connection they were allowed to
do this down a narrow main road when the obvious thing would be to use
microwave or lay the cable down a cycle track that is rarely used.  I
bet that now they have the ducts and fibre in place they will be selling
capacity to other users to increase the profits without the council
(i.e. us) getting any benefit.