> I do not believe for even a second that Telecoms Grade switching equipment is unable to do the same

Mikrotik is a young spring chick compared to the dinosaurs in telecom.

> I do not believe for even a second that Telecoms Grade switching equipment is unable to do the same.

The example should rather have been some telecom carrier in Africa or India. Telco equipment is expensive, the technology is ridiculously complex and getting companies especially in less well-off regions to replace aging stuff and updating it to modern standards is next to impossible. Think about it, the globally connected phone system includes countries where you get 10 GBit/s symmetric fiber in your home and it includes countries where people don't even have running water because they're so poor.

The fact that we in Western countries can have a realtime conversation with someone in the Saharan desert or in an Indian village that requires days worth of travel [1] is nothing short of a miracle.

[1] https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2024/5/8/an-election-booth...