actually matagal ng gumagamit ng fiber optics and pldt. in most places, copper is only used from the home to the cabinet. From there, its fiber all the way. What they are offering is what they used to call fiber to home, where copper is no longer used.
of course, they can offer the higher speeds with their current set-up. but to make the new technology spread, they're only offering it on the new set-up.