[Aloha]

Ideally you can deploy FTTN/VDSL without replacing anything, you'd have to get fiber out to these places otherwise, and often enough here (the US) its aerial cable.

Like I'd said in my original post, most of the places that would get fiber as part of an FTTN deployment have no fiber at all right now, so even getting the fiber into those areas is important to the later deployment of FTTP.

With pair bonding VDSL has the potential of more than 25 mbps - plus the speeds they can pull out of copper over less that 1000m loops is quite promising, and continues to improve.