How-To Guide

How to Set Up a Leased Line for Your Office in India — Complete Guide

A leased line gives your office guaranteed, dedicated internet bandwidth — unlike shared broadband where speeds fluctuate based on how many neighbours are online. For Indian businesses with 20+ employees, cloud-heavy operations, or video conferencing needs, a leased line is a sound investment. This guide walks you through the entire process.

Determine Your Bandwidth Requirement: Calculate your bandwidth needs based on concurrent usage. As a rule of thumb for Indian offices: 1 Mbps per employee for basic email and web browsing. Add 2 Mbps per concurrent Zoom/Teams call. Add 5–10 Mbps per employee for cloud-heavy work (AWS, Azure, large file transfers). For a 30-person office with 10 on calls and 20 doing cloud work: 30 + 20 + 200 = 250 Mbps minimum. Add 30% headroom for growth. Most Indian SMBs with 20–50 employees need 100–500 Mbps.
- Always add 30% headroom above your calculated need
- Leased lines are symmetrical — same speed upload and download
- Check your current broadband usage during peak hours for a baseline
- Video conferencing is the biggest bandwidth consumer in most offices
Choose Your ISP and Get Quotes: Major leased line ISPs in India: Tata Communications (nationwide, enterprise-grade SLA, premium pricing), Airtel Leased Line (extensive metro coverage, competitive pricing), BSNL Leased Line (most affordable, slower installation), ACT Fibernet (metros, competitive for SMBs), Spectranet (Delhi NCR, good for smaller offices), RailTel (tier-2 cities, government tenants). Get quotes from at least 3 ISPs. Compare: bandwidth, SLA uptime guarantee (99.9% minimum), installation time, and contract terms (1-year vs 3-year).
- Never sign more than a 1-year contract initially — switch if service quality is poor
- Ask for SLA credits if uptime falls below guaranteed levels
- Compare SLA terms — 99.9% = 8.76 hours downtime per year; 99.5% = 43 hours
- Ask about last-mile redundancy — is there a backup route to your building?
Prepare Your Office Infrastructure: Before the leased line arrives: ensure you have a network rack or enclosure for the modem/router, a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) for networking equipment, a managed switch if you have more than 10 devices, and a firewall (hardware, not just Windows Firewall). For 20+ employees, you need: a business-grade router/firewall (Cisco, Fortinet, Sophos), a managed switch with VLAN support, and enterprise Wi-Fi access points (Cisco Meraki, Aruba, or similar).
- Never connect a leased line directly to a cheap consumer router
- Budget ₹30,000–1,00,000 for networking equipment (firewall + switch + APs)
- UPS for networking equipment is critical — power fluctuations are common in India
- Install in a locked cabinet with power management
Negotiate SLA and Installation Terms: Key SLA terms to negotiate: uptime guarantee (99.9% minimum — insist on this in writing), Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) — maximum 4 hours for business-critical connections, dedicated account manager with a direct mobile number, monthly bandwidth utilisation reports, and price lock for contract term. For Tata and Airtel enterprise accounts, there is often room to negotiate 10–15% off the listed price, especially for 2+ year contracts.
- Get the SLA in the contract — verbal guarantees mean nothing
- Ask for a 30-day no-penalty cancellation clause for the first 60 days
- Monthly service credits for SLA breaches should be in the contract
- Ask for a dedicated leased-line support number, not the generic call centre

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a 100 Mbps leased line cost in Delhi, Mumbai, or Bengaluru?

In metro cities (Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad): 100 Mbps leased line: ₹18,000–35,000/month. 200 Mbps: ₹30,000–60,000/month. 500 Mbps: ₹60,000–1,20,000/month. Tata and Airtel are at the higher end; BSNL is 20–30% cheaper. Prices vary significantly by building, location within the city, and distance from the ISP's nearest PoP.

How long does leased line installation take in India?

Installation time in India: Metro cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru): 15–30 working days for Tata/Airtel, 30–60 days for BSNL. Tier-2 cities: 30–60 days. The longest part is often the last-mile cable laying into your building — this depends on permissions from the building society/owner and municipality.

Should I get one leased line or two (primary + backup)?

For businesses where internet downtime directly impacts revenue (e-commerce, call centres, online services), dual ISPs are recommended: primary leased line from Tata or Airtel, and a secondary leased line or broadband from a different ISP on a different cable path. Configure failover on your router so the secondary kicks in automatically. The secondary line only costs ₹5,000–15,000/month for a broadband backup.

Need help choosing and setting up a leased line for your office? Our network team gets you 3 competitive quotes from Tata, Airtel, and others — and handles the setup end-to-end. Get quotes now.