Historical fibre

Hello,
A bit of a History question here, is it true that around 30ish years ago that the BT (company) of that time was going to replace all the copper wire with fibre all around the country over the decades ahead?
Why didn't they?

TIA
Johnny B

iirc it was blocked by the government of the time due to monopolies commission issues.

I think the urban legend is that they said they would only do it if cable tv and maybe satellite weren't going to be competing.

More like were told no they cannot, and time was given to cable franchises to get cable to the country.

At the time, fibre was seen as a video delivery mechanism (internet for home use was not imagined). The analogue cable systems at the time were reasonable enough for video delivery.

I was told that it was far to advanced for people at the time, and people in trial areas simply wern't using it like it was made for.

http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/24970/1/Telecommunications_...

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/24970/1/Telecommunications_...

Yah - that's pretty much how I remember it.

BT said they'd do it if they could carry TV channels. Maggie told 'em to climb back on the horse they rode in on 'cos <insert one of half a dozen start-up telcos here> would do it all spurred on by market forces and competition.

Now we have VM and all that remains of those cable companies is their debt.

all that remains of those cable companies is their debt

and their networks, shirley ?