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- Access zone: a record for sales of Wi-Fi routers has been set in the Russian Federation
Access zone: a record for sales of Wi-Fi routers has been set in the Russian Federation
Russia has set a record for sales of Wi-Fi routers and other devices for connecting to the Internet. By the end of 2025, about 10 million such gadgets were sold in the country. Compared to 2024, the demand for them has increased by 30-60%, retailers told Izvestia. Market participants attribute the increase in sales to mobile Internet outages. An additional factor was the transition of users to new wireless standards: older routers are getting worse in conditions of overloaded air and interference from many electronic devices. In addition, demand supports the proliferation of smart home systems — more and more wireless access points are needed to connect a growing number of gadgets, experts say.
How many gadgets for home Internet were bought in Russia in 2025
In 2025, about 10 million Wi-Fi routers and devices with similar functionality were sold in Russia, including repeaters that enhance the range of Internet access, M.Video told Izvestia. This is a record figure for at least the last five years, the company noted. During this period, the market has actually doubled in physical terms, and its monetary volume has more than doubled the level of 2020, they added.
Online sales also showed significant growth. According to Wildberries & Russ, sales of fixed Wi-Fi routers increased by 70% in monetary terms and by 60% in quantitative terms last year. The company attributes this to the growing popularity of online electronics purchases in Russia.
Compared to 2024, sales of such devices have also increased, a representative of one of the telecommunications companies confirmed, noting that Wi-Fi equipment is still in demand among consumers.
"In 2024, we launched production of our own Wi-Fi 6 routers, and already in 2025 we saw a significant increase in demand for equipment - by 27%," the press service of Er-Telecom Holding noted. — This is due to the fact that previously installed Wi-Fi 4 and 5 gadgets cannot always provide a comfortable Internet experience due to the increase in the number of devices in the house and the growth in traffic.
According to the representative of the operator, an additional driver of demand was the transition of many users from mobile Internet to fixed Internet in conditions of restrictions.: This has increased the requirements for the reliability and performance of the home Network.
In 2025, the demand for Wi-Fi routers in Russia is indeed showing a noticeable increase - by about 30% compared to 2024, the commercial director of Refrigerator told Izvestia.<url>" Alexey Pogudalov. According to him, the market for mobile gadgets has also increased, but much more modestly than the segment of stationary devices. At the same time, in monetary terms, sales of mobile solutions are more than 1.5 times lower than stationary ones, which indicates a shift in consumer demand towards home wired ones.
— To ensure security in a number of regions, the authorities began to massively turn off the mobile Internet. Users, especially in regions where connectivity is unstable, have started buying up fixed routers to ensure they have access to the Network," he said.
In many apartments, Wi-Fi had not been installed before, because the gadgets worked over cellular networks, but now this method of Internet access has become unreliable, he claims. According to him, small and medium—sized businesses — shops, kiosks, taxi services - began urgently transferring cash registers and IT systems to wired Internet and Wi-Fi in order not to lose revenue during mobile outages.
The expert also pointed to the technological reasons for the growth in demand. In particular, users are forced to switch to new frequencies. The 2.4 GHz band used by older models in apartment buildings turned out to be overloaded with neighboring networks, smart speakers and wireless headphones, which significantly reduces the quality of communication. Against this background, consumers are massively choosing dual-band routers capable of operating at both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, which makes it possible to unload the ether. Alexey Pogudalov called the purchase of more powerful telecommunications equipment designed for stable operation of dozens of connected home devices another stable trend in recent years.
Why are router sales growing?
— There was indeed interest in stationary routers in 2025. The average market share is 22% in physical terms and more than 10% in monetary terms," VimpelCom noted.
Sales growth of Wi-Fi routers continued in January 2026, reaching 55% compared to the same period last year, Eldar Murtazin, a leading analyst at Mobile Research Group, told Izvestia. According to him, these devices are bought by owners of cottages and apartments, and the volume of purchases by small businesses is very high.
— The reason is the disconnection of the mobile Internet. In the regions where they occur most often, we are talking about increased demand," the expert added.
If a few years ago Wi-Fi provided the connection of several devices, now we are talking about a variety — from televisions and laptops to security systems and smart home elements, said Zhanna Ilyukhina, head of the Accessories department at M.Video.
— Record sales in 2025 confirm that users are actively updating network equipment, increasing stability and connection speed. At the same time, we see a steady demand for affordable solutions for basic tasks, as well as for advanced models with support for modern communication standards, including Wi-Fi," she added.
MegaFon, in turn, talks about an increase in demand for Wi-Fi services from businesses — it amounted to 59% over the year. Not only the number of public networks has increased, but also their capacity. Previously, customers more often chose equipment designed for simultaneous connection of up to 100 users, but now solutions that support the operation of several thousand devices are increasingly being implemented, the operator's press service said.
The current trend is related to the blocking of mobile Internet — such gadgets have become actively used by those who previously lacked only cellular communication capabilities, said Denis Kuskov, CEO of TelecomDaily. In addition, according to him, users are striving to improve the quality of wireless access by replacing outdated and interference-prone routers with devices of new standards.
The growing popularity of smart home systems also plays a role. Additional routers and repeaters are required to connect an increasing number of gadgets, especially in large apartments, private houses and cottage settlements, where the signal of a single Wi—Fi device does not always cover the entire area, the expert concluded.
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