Zain Omantel International (ZOI), in collaboration with Zain Kuwait, has enabled a Guinness World Record-breaking remote robotic surgery conducted between Kuwait and Brazil, spanning a distance of 12,000 kilometres. The procedure was carried out using ultra-low latency connectivity, allowing surgeons in Kuwait to operate on a patient in Brazil in near real time.
The initiative was delivered in partnership with Kuwait’s Ministry of Health, Jaber Al-Ahmad Hospital, the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), and international partners. ZOI provided the international transport network linking Kuwait, Marseille, and São Paulo, while Zain Kuwait delivered the local access networks.
The purpose-built network achieved end-to-end latency of 199 milliseconds, average bandwidth of 80 Mbps, and packet loss of just 0.19 percent. This performance enabled precise real-time control of the surgical robot, setting a new Guinness World Record for the longest distance between a surgeon and a patient during a live procedure.
The announcement was made at a press conference at Zain Kuwait’s headquarters, where Guinness World Records certificates were presented to the Ministry of Health, the surgical team, Zain, and KFAS. The record was officially confirmed between teams at Jaber Al-Ahmad Hospital in Kuwait and SCOLLA at Hospital Cruz Vermelha in Brazil.
ZOI CEO Sohail Qadir said the achievement demonstrated how coordinated local and international digital infrastructure can support low-latency applications at a global scale. He added that the project highlights the potential of advanced networks to unlock new possibilities in critical fields such as medicine.
The surgery was conducted over a live global network engineered for predictable latency, with multiple backup routes in place to ensure reliability, showcasing the role of resilient digital infrastructure in enabling next-generation healthcare services.
