– ZOI, Zain Kuwait, and partners delivered the resilience, stability, and latency required for the live two-way telesurgery driving digital transformation in healthcare sector and beyond
Dubai, UAE – 16 December 2025 – Zain Omantel International (ZOI), the Middle East’s leading global wholesale carrier, in cooperation with Zain Kuwait, the country’s leading digital operator, provided ultra-low latency connectivity that enabled a Guinness World Record-breaking remote surgery spanning 12,000km. ZOI and Zain Kuwait worked in collaboration with Kuwait’s Ministry of Health (MOH), Jaber Al-Ahmad Hospital, the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), and international partners to enable a surgical team in Kuwait to operate on a patient in Brazil in near real-time.
The remote robotic surgery set a Guinness World Record for the longest distance between a patient and a surgeon. ZOI provided the international transport services between Kuwait, Marseille and Sao Paolo (Equinix SP4) while Zain Kuwait delivered local access networks. The joint networking strategy achieved 199ms (0.2seconds) end-to-end latency, an average bandwidth of 80 Mbps, and a packet loss of just 0.19%. This record-low latency allowed the surgeons to control the robot in real time despite the distance.
The announcement was made at a press conference at Zain Kuwait’s headquarters where a Guinness World Records representative presented certificates to the Minister of Health, the surgical team, Zain, and KFAS. The representative confirmed that the teams at Jaber Al-Ahmad Hospital in Kuwait and SCOLLA at Hospital Cruz Vermelha in Brazil had officially set the record.
Sohail Qadir, CEO at ZOI, said: “ZOI’s strategic investment in digital infrastructure that directly enables local innovations at global scale provides a foundation for connecting low-latency applications and services across the globe. This is what coordinated delivery with local access and international backbone can achieve.”
The surgery was performed on a live global network using a route purpose-built for predictable latency, with multiple diverse paths on standby in case of disruption, demonstrating how advanced digital infrastructure can enable new frontiers in medicine.
Qadir continued, “This level of precision over 12,000 kilometers is only possible when every part of the network is engineered and operated for consistent low-latency performance. Our role was to ensure a stable, predictable international route so the surgical team could focus on the patient while we took accountability for the network. The record is a great headline, but it really shows what can be achieved when strong partners, advanced digital infrastructure and a shared commitment to innovation come together.”
ZOI provides customers faster entry into regional markets, stronger resilience across multiple routes, and confidence that their most sensitive traffic is managed and prioritized. Backed by Zain and Omantel, ZOI combines decades of wholesale expertise with deep local presence and a track record of delivery across a global footprint.
ENDS
About Zain Omantel International (ZOI)
ZOI is an international carrier that delivers a unified, AI-ready network giving hyperscalers, cloud providers, and carriers reliable, high-capacity connectivity through one partner, one network, and one commercial model.
Formed as a joint venture between Zain and Omantel, ZOI is ranked number one in IP networking in the Middle East and among the top 100 globally (CAIDA ASN ranking). Its infrastructure spans 20+ subsea cables, carrier-neutral data centres, and dual international network operations centres (iNOCs). For updates on ZOI, follow us on LinkedIn and or visit www.zainomantelinternational.com Built different. Built to deliver.
Guinness World Records Statement
On 23 September 2025, surgical teams operating from Jaber Al-Ahmad Hospital in Kuwait and SCOLLA in Hospital Cruz Vermelha in Brazil performed a series of robotic tele-surgery operations across a record-breaking distance of 12,034.92 km (7,480 miles) each way. The procedures were inguinal TAPP (transabdominal preperitoneal) repair, carried out using advanced robotic surgical systems connected over a secured high-bandwidth international network provided by Zain Telecommunications and supported by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS).
The operations were made possible through the collaboration of surgeons, and scientists from Edge Medical and AUMET who successfully completed the surgery with an average latency of 199 milliseconds, an average bandwidth of 80 Mbps, and a packet loss of just 0.19%.
Both operations were completed successfully and safely, underscoring the feasibility of global collaboration in surgical care and setting a new benchmark in the field of remote robotic surgery. The surgeons were Dr Sulaiman Almazeedi, Dr. Marcelo Loureiro, Dr. Mohannad Alhaddad, Dr. Ahmed Karim, Dr. Hmoud Alrashidi, and Dr. Leandro Totti Cavazzola. Click here to view the full statement.
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