Leased Line Cost UK: What Small Businesses Actually Pay

There is no universal UK leased line price. Providers build quotes for a particular address, bandwidth and term. Published figures are useful for setting an initial budget, but only a site-specific written quote can show what a small business will actually pay.

Current leased line price examples

The examples below are not like-for-like quotes. BT's entry figure applies to a restricted bandwidth and long term, while Virgin Media Business publishes starting prices for named symmetric speeds. Availability and installation remain subject to the provider's checks.

Business telecoms prices are often presented without VAT, but the visible leased-line offer must be checked with its order summary and legal terms. Ask the supplier to state the monthly amount both excluding and including VAT, even if the business expects to recover VAT.

Why independent price guides disagree

Independent guides can help with early budgeting, but their populations and methods are not interchangeable. AMVIA's August 2026 guide reports indicative fully managed, symmetric prices by area and includes especially low on-net offers. Selectra's August 2026 guide gives broader typical SME estimates excluding VAT. Leased Line Comparison's 2026 guide gives a third, separately-sourced range by exact bandwidth. We have not combined any of them.

The gap is evidence that “average leased line cost” needs a methodology, not that one source should be silently preferred. A business in an on-net city building may see an unusually low offer, while a site needing new construction can cost much more.

Bearer size and ordered speed: a common source of quote confusion

A leased line quote often separates two numbers: the bearer, meaning the maximum physical capacity of the fibre installed at the premises, and the speed you actually order and pay for on top of it. BT's own BTnet page, re-checked on 27 September 2026, advertises “30 or 50 Mbps over a 1Gbps service” as its entry configuration, the same distinction already reflected in the price table above. Ordering a lower speed on a higher-capacity bearer is a genuine way to reduce the monthly rental now while keeping the option to increase the ordered speed later, usually without new construction, cabling or a fresh installation charge. Always ask a supplier to state both the bearer size and the committed speed separately, and confirm in writing whether a future upgrade needs a new order, a new survey or simply a change to the existing circuit. Our static IP business broadband guide covers a related connectivity decision worth checking alongside a leased line quote.

What changes the quote at your premises?

• Network reach: the closer suitable provider infrastructure is to the building, the less new work may be needed.
• Committed bandwidth: compare the guaranteed usable speed, not only the capacity of the bearer carrying it.
• Contract term: a longer commitment can reduce monthly rental or installation cost but increases the cost of changing plans or moving.
• Construction: new ducting, fibre routes, wayleaves and work beyond a standard installation can create excess construction charges.
• Service design: managed routers, firewalls, IP addresses, monitoring and backup circuits can sit outside the basic access price.
• Support: response or repair commitments, service credits and support hours differ between contracts.

Installation cost and excess construction charges

A low or waived standard installation charge does not necessarily cap the build cost. The provider may survey the premises after an order and identify extra civil engineering, cabling or permissions. AMVIA's guide estimates £500 to £2,000 for standard installation in its dataset and says some providers waive this on 36 to 60-month terms. Treat that as its market estimate, not a limit on an individual site.

Ask what happens if the survey finds excess construction charges. The quote should say who pays, when the business can cancel, whether a wayleave is needed, what temporary service is available and whether the contract starts before or after the circuit is live.

What you are paying for

Ofcom defines a leased line as a dedicated, symmetrical and uncontended private connection. Dedicated capacity and equal upload and download speeds distinguish it from ordinary broadband, but the commercial benefit depends on the contract. Ofcom also notes that a stronger service level usually costs more and that an SLA is the provider's contractual quality commitment.

Read the SLA rather than relying on the word “guaranteed”. Check availability targets, fault measurement, response and fix commitments, exclusions, service credits and the process for claiming them. A target or credit does not prevent downtime, so a business that cannot operate offline may still need a genuinely independent backup connection.

Is a leased line worth it for a small business?

It can be worth the premium when lost connectivity would stop trading, when large uploads or cloud backups need predictable symmetric capacity, or when the business requires a specific repair commitment. It is harder to justify for a small office whose work can continue briefly on mobile backup and whose address has fast business FTTP at a much lower monthly cost.

Put a realistic hourly cost on an outage and list the workloads that need guaranteed bandwidth. Then compare a leased line with business FTTP plus a tested backup. There is no universal winner: the leased line buys dedicated performance and contractual support, while FTTP can buy far more headline speed per pound where shared capacity and its support terms are acceptable.

How to compare leased line quotes

1. Give every supplier the same service address, required committed speed and target go-live date.
2. Ask for the bearer size and committed bandwidth as separate figures.
3. Record monthly rental excluding and including VAT, setup fees and any annual price change.
4. Request the survey, wayleave and excess construction charge process in writing.
5. Compare contract length, notice, early termination and premises-move terms.
6. Compare the SLA definitions, exclusions, service credits and support hours.
7. Price required equipment, IP addresses, security, monitoring and backup separately.
8. Calculate the full committed cost and keep uncertain construction charges outside the total until confirmed.