How Much Does a Leased Line Cost? UK Price Guide 2025

What is a leased line, and why does it cost more than broadband?

A leased line is a dedicated, uncontended fibre circuit running directly to your premises — the bandwidth is yours alone, symmetrical (equal upload and download), and backed by a contractual SLA. That dedicated capacity is why it costs more than shared broadband. If you want the deeper explainer, read what a leased line is.

Standard broadband is contended: you share the local infrastructure with dozens or hundreds of other users, so speeds dip at peak times and there is no guaranteed fix time when it breaks. A leased line — sometimes sold as dedicated internet access — removes that contention entirely. You pay for guaranteed performance, not a "best efforts" promise. Ofcom regulates this market and publishes regular business connectivity market reviews that track how dedicated-access pricing and competition are evolving.

For a business running VoIP, video calls, cloud backup and hosted applications at the same time, the symmetrical, always-available bandwidth is the point. The cost reflects a service-level guarantee, not just a faster pipe.

How much does a leased line cost in the UK in 2026?

UK leased line pricing has fallen steadily over the past decade as full-fibre infrastructure has spread — helped by the government's Project Gigabit programme. The figures below reflect realistic market entry pricing on a 36-month contract. The "from" price is the entry point; the actual figure rises with distance to fibre and your location.

These figures are monthly rental. The settled entry point is a 100Mbps leased line from £69/month on a 36-month term in urban areas, rising in less-connected locations where fewer carriers compete and fibre sits farther away. Installation is often waived on standard terms, but sites needing significant civil works can face one-off charges of £500–£3,000+ depending on the build required to reach the building.

The headline takeaway: speed is rarely the main cost driver. Location is. Two identical 1Gbps circuits can differ by hundreds of pounds a month purely on how far the nearest fibre sits from your front door.

What drives the cost of a leased line?

Five factors set the final price. Understanding them tells you where you have room to negotiate and where you do not.

• Location — the single biggest variable. A business in central Manchester or Birmingham can often get 100Mbps from £69/month because several carriers have live fibre nearby and compete. The same firm in a rural village can pay two or three times more simply because fibre is farther away and fewer providers serve the area.
• Speed — higher speeds cost more, but price-per-Mbps falls as you climb the tiers. A 1Gbps circuit is usually two to three times the cost of 100Mbps at the same site, not ten times. Upgrading is often better value per megabit than it looks.
• Contract length — standard terms are 36 or 60 months. A 60-month term typically cuts the monthly cost by 10–20% (typical UK 2026 range) versus 36 months, but only commit long if your premises and bandwidth needs are stable.
• Provider and network — many urban postcodes are served by multiple networks (Openreach, CityFibre, Virgin Media Business, Zayo and others). Genuine choice means competitive pricing; a single-provider location means you pay what that provider asks.
• SLA tier — faster fault response and tighter uptime guarantees carry a premium. Standard circuits offer 99.99% uptime with a multi-hour fix target; enhanced SLAs with a 4-hour P1 response and 8-hour repair guarantee cost more and suit sites where downtime is genuinely expensive.

How much does leased line installation cost and how long does it take?

Standard leased line installation takes 30–90 working days from order. That window covers the site survey, any wayleave agreements, civil works, and network provisioning. Sites close to existing fibre complete faster; those needing new duct runs take longer.

Installation charges themselves are often waived on standard 36-month terms. Where they apply, they reflect the physical build: a short connection into an already-fibred building is cheap, while road crossings, new ducting or long internal cable runs push the one-off cost up. Always confirm whether install is included or charged separately before you compare two quotes — a low monthly that hides a £3,000 build is not the bargain it looks like.

If you are switching from another provider, plan early. Order the new circuit well before your current contract expires so you are not left with overlapping bills or a coverage gap. Multi-site organisations should plan provisioning across all locations together — see our guidance on multi-site connectivity for sequencing several installs at once.

Is a leased line worth it compared to FTTP broadband?

A leased line is worth the premium when you need a guaranteed minimum speed, a formal fault-response SLA, or symmetrical upload and download. For teams under ~20 users on standard cloud apps, business broadband over FTTP is usually enough. Above that — or where downtime has real financial cost — the leased line earns its price.

If your constraint is resilience rather than raw speed, the smarter spend is sometimes a cheaper circuit plus backup connectivity — a second diverse line that keeps you online when the primary fails.

How do you get an accurate leased line quote?

The only reliable way to price a leased line is a postcode-level availability check followed by a site survey. Any number quoted before a survey is an estimate; the firm price arrives once the survey confirms distance and the scope of any civil works. Treat pre-survey figures as a starting point, not a contract.

AMVIA runs availability checks across multiple UK carriers at once, compares the results, and manages the quoting and survey process for you. That removes the classic trap — an artificially low estimate that jumps after the survey — and shows which networks can realistically serve your site. One provider, security-first, Microsoft-certified: we treat the connection as part of your wider IT and security posture, not a standalone telecoms line.