It does give me a little smile to think of all those overhead networks that ntl shut down because underground was the way to go. Many of those networks that they shut and paid contractors to remove the poles and wayleave agreements along with them are in areas that are still not cabled.
Then again, I guess the management have always known what they are doing
I also seem to recall that ntl had problems with the overhead systems they were building/upgrading in Ireland. I seem to recall some of the old employees who had worked on the overhead systems (Original Rediffusion) were asked if they were interested in going over to Ireland to work.
The reason was due to the problem finding people with the necessary skills to string fibre or coax between poles.