What is cheaper?
To replace several kilometers of copper or just upgrade the routers? Routers are neatly installed in rooms with removable flooring, while copper is (captain obvious)... on the dirt. Little effort, great results.
To install new gear, copper isn't cheap, and is very often stolen and sold by its value per kilogram. Meanwhile, fiber is mostly molten glass in wire shape, which is made out of sand with no commercial value, to put it VERY simply.
So yeah, it is easier to upgrade your old copper stuff, but when installing new stuff, fiber.
Berkeley had to label their cables OPTIC FIBER - NO COMMERCIAL VALUE all over the place, because wrongdoers had cut their cables looking for copper, a couple years ago.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
