OK , it’s a bit like being a detective replying on this forum , each interaction , a little more info is revealed.
Unfortunately, it appears as though the survey note is wrong , congested duct isn’t appropriate if there is no duct , I would suggest it’s a DIG cable ( buried armoured copper cable ) that the previous copper service used ,
If it’s around 200m down a lane from the public highway, is this on your own ‘lane’ or is it also public highway ? , it makes difference.
Historically, ‘BT’ had a universal service obligation ( USO ) , for a copper pair telephone service, anyone asking for service couldn’t be reasonably denied, this is the origin of excess construction costs , BT would stump up the first £3400 of any construction cost , after that the customer paid the remainder of the total cost , if someone chose to live on the side of a mountain ECC was likely, more conventional dwellings wouldn’t attract ECC , if someone was liable for ECC but they wouldn’t pay , then the USO wasn’t valid and not enforceable so they got no service.
There is no comparable USO for fibre , there is a USO that guarantees 10Mb , but if 10Mb is available from anywhere , Alternative Network, cable , mobile signal etc , then OR don’t have to provide FTTP service unless it commercially beneficial ( or the Government subsidies it via BDUK or similar ) generally they do utilising the same type of ECC rules but there is no obligation
,
The problem often is when FTTP is technically available, but the ECC unacceptable to a regular citizen , getting new service on the now redundant copper cable is problematic.
No ISP ‘actually ever ‘cover the costs’ , that’s an urban myth , the costs are presented to the ISP , because Openreach have no relationship with end users they can’t directly charge an end user , OR advise the ISP of the costs , the ISP asks you if you are prepared to pay , some think the ISP will cover the ECC , I’ve never heard of it actually being done , but if OR get paid the ECC , it’s the ISP that ‘writes the cheque’ as there is no other way to do it , you pay the ISP , the ISP pays OR , but this is a murky area.
I would say there are two issues ,
If you want FTTP , then any construction needed isn’t necessarily covered by a USO if you have any way at all of getting 10Mb or better ( so you pay or you don’t get it ) or you need an exception to get SoGEA to use the copper , because you appreciate that FTTP will cost you more , but not using the NSP route , any SoGEA can be ‘limited’ to telephone only or less than 40Mb ( so if you wanted faster tough luck ) , so ordering F2 ( for example ) even if the copper cable exists, may not qualify as an exception.
The rules around ECC were complicated when only BT we’re available, other ISP having wholesale access and FTTP have made a complicated subject even more opaque, but in general, any network assets provided exclusively for your use ( hence asking about the ‘lane’ ) hence a pole on the public highway isn’t a chargable asset , but on your own road that only you could ever benefit from is chargable asset , a grey area is if the lane isn’t yours , but it’s still privately owned by someone ( and you just have access rights )
It really is a complicated subject , if you feel the interpretation of these rules is incorrect, there isn’t really an appeals process, as you have posted here , presumably BT are your choice ( well second choice as you used Vodafone first ) , you could try contacting the Chairman’s Office / Executive level compliants , who may be able to check the ‘rules’ have been correctly applied , but if ( for example ) 10Mb was available from 4G/5G ‘BT’ are under no obligation to provide service
