More than 87,000 low earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet connections are now installed in the UK, the majority serving residents and businesses in rural areas.

This is more than double that of the previous year, showing just how disruptive Starlink services are to remote connectivity.

Slow fibre rollout makes rural connectivity ripe for disruption

While satellite internet is coming in hot, Openreach continues its steady fibre expansion into rural areas, failing to admit they have long written off meeting their original rollout targets.

Businesses in the countryside have been stuck with patchy copper lines or weak mobile internet for many years, and Starlink feels like the cavalry has arrived.

It’s easy to see the appeal. A dish on the roof, a router in the office, and video calls, cloud uploads and online bookings are possible, even for a farm that is miles from the nearest cabinet.

For many, it was the first time that running cloud-based software, uploading large files, or holding a stable video meeting was even possible.

Even before Starlink, mobile broadband via 4G and 5G had been eating into fibre’s rural market share, with mast upgrades racing ahead of fibre trenching.

Wireless technologies are bringing the internet to places fibre was never going to reach any time soon, and they are doing so at record speed.

Starlink’s performance speaks for itself. The download speeds of 100–250 Mbps and uploads of 10–20 Mbps from their basic package are a world away from the 8–20 Mbps typical of copper lines.

In areas with strong 4G coverage, mobile speeds can top 100 Mbps, too, and modern routers make it simple to share that connection across an entire office or site.

Starlink and 5G are not a replacement to fully dedicated fibre

But the pendulum has swung too far. In the rush to order a Starlink or mobile broadband set, many rural businesses have forgotten that dedicated fibre leased lines remain the gold standard.

A business leased line broadband connection is exactly what it sounds like: a private, uncontended fibre-optic circuit running directly from your premises to your provider’s core network.

No sharing with neighbours. No peak-time slowdowns. No weather-related outages. And critically, no fluctuating monthly bills driven by data caps or usage tiers.

While satellite internet can be knocked out by heavy rain, snow, or even solar interference, and mobile masts can suffer from power cuts or network congestion, a buried fibre circuit is built for consistency.

Speeds are symmetrical (uploads match downloads), and bandwidth can scale from 100 Mbps to 10 Gbps without replacing the core infrastructure.

That means a small rural business can start modestly and ramp up capacity as operations grow, without swapping technologies or risking downtime. Latency is kept at single-digits, making fibre ideal for any time-sensitive online activity.

For some, the case for a leased line is mission-critical. A rural hotel where the booking system must be online 24/7, or a farm that streams real-time drone footage for crop analysis, or a rural manufacturer reliant on cloud-based ERP, downtime costs can efficiently run into the hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Leased lines come with service-level agreements that guarantee fixes in hours, not days. That assurance can be the difference between business as usual and operations grinding to a halt.

There’s also a compliance angle. For rural medical practices, law firms, or financial advisors, the privacy and reliability of a private circuit are a safeguard against the unpredictability of wireless connections.

When client confidentiality and secure data handling are non-negotiable, a stable, private link is a necessity, period.

Leased line fibre availability is misunderstood

But the biggest misconception is not even about performance or regulations, but availability. The majority of rural enterprises simply assume they can’t get a leased line.

Openreach and alternative network providers have quietly expanded dedicated fibre availability far beyond the areas served by standard consumer fibre.

In many cases, premises that still can’t get standard fibre for residential use can already order a leased line.

Leased line costs are higher than standard or wireless broadband, but they’re predictable. Where satellite operators can raise prices or tweak service terms, leased line contracts typically lock in rates for three to five years.

Factor in the operational value of uptime, speed, and stability, and the equation often tilts in fibre’s favour. For businesses where every minute of connectivity counts, the premium quickly pays for itself.

All rural businesses need to do is check

No one can take away that Starlink and 5G are powerful tools, but only in the right circumstances. They are a lifeline in truly remote locations, and work well as backup connections in a resilience strategy.

But for rural businesses that depend on the internet as much as the local high street depends on electricity, a leased line is the foundation.

The reality is that the best connection for your business might already be under your feet, ready to deliver the speed, stability, and scalability that wireless can’t always guarantee.

Before signing another satellite contract or investing in yet another 5G router, just take five minutes to check whether leased line broadband is available.