A new 5G router, fully manufactured in the EU, has been launched by MikroTik in collaboration with LMT, the mobile tech innovator. It has been distributed to the first consumers in Latvia.

The router is 5G/LTE enabled, offering a high-speed and dual-band access point for homes and small businesses, and is equipped with MikroTik’s proprietary software, RouterOS.

The router is one of the few 5G routers fully manufactured in the EU. It is designed and manufactured in Latvia, where both companies are headquartered and hold a joint 5G Laboratory for R&D.

A study by IDC shows that the European market share in the router industry fell on average 9.55% in 2020, while the Chinese and Japanese shares grew by 19.15%. With the 5G router, MikroTik and LMT look to address this falling market share, as well as the politically-motivated data security concern that is growing in relevance along with the growth of the asian market share.

“The more effort and resources we invest in technological development today, the more technologically advanced we will become in the future. Quite recently, 5G was just an innovative idea, but now we witness the result of our targeted efforts: the first Latvian-made 5G router that will allow all Latvian residents to enjoy high-speed data transmission at home. We see that thanks to cooperation with LMT 5G has become more and more accessible to everyone, at the same time securing new opportunities for Latvia to export this locally made technology,” claims John Tully, the co-owner and Chairman of the Management Board of MikroTik.

The router provides ultra-fast 5G/LTE connectivity for home and office environments. This is in response to the growing trend of remote work and the need for high speed internet in these spaces – a trend that is corroborated by a study by the EU on the “Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on EU industries.”

MikroTik routers are used around the world – they were primarily designed and developed for industrial use, but launched their first mass-market router last year. MikroTik routers are available through mobile operator distributors. These routers make it possible for mobile operators to meet the growing demands of internet speed and capacity requirements, for which one of the answers is 5G.

“Eight years ago we implemented our first fixed-wireless broadband package that our clients in Latvia now use to stream smart TV, among other things, which was the recipient of the Glomo 5G pioneers award nomination. This 5G router makes it possible for us to increase our network's capacity for offering fixed wireless broadband, which has been in high demand since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. At the same time, we're working on entirely new 5G services in the drone, mobility, public safety, and IoT industries, because we see that 5G can offer much more than simply faster 4G internet.”

Juris Binde, President of LMT

The routers have extensive customization options, such as running a VPN from the office to your home, enabling parental controls, QoS (traffic prioritization for specific needs, such as streaming), specific firewall rules, IPsec hardware acceleration, VLAN, setting up email or SMS notifications, and automating complex trigger notifications based on bandwidth usage. They not only provide advanced security features, but also emphasize production security – using only reputable and EU-based components, such as Qualcomm, and local assembly.