If memory serves, BT originally owned the MK Cable and had to dispose of it because the Government said they could not be both a content provider and content carrier.
BT wanted such a stupid price for it, nobody would buy. This was a tactic to get the legislation changed, but didn't work. Eventually NTL agreed to lease the network, on the understanding BT would upgrade it. As we know VM took over NTL some time back. The agreement, to my understanding, was that BT would maintain the fibre, and NTL (VM) the copper. There's always a dispute over who maintains the box where the two meet!
Before the disposal of the network, BT had given assurances that i would be upgraded, and presumably those assurances were taken into account by NTL at the time.
Seems like those assurances were not written into the agreement, so BT are renaging.
Typical BT tactic. They get a third party to pay for the upgrade, then re-negotiate the lease fee based on the improved network. Money for old rope, or in this case, old cable.
I'm actually a presenter on CRMK, and the quality of signal is poor, at best, and it's nigh impossible to get either VM or BT to do anything about it. It seems the plans showing the route taken by cable from our studio to thier distibution point, have been lost.