Telstra's Australian teleports. Photo is courtesy of Telstra.
The World Teleport Association (WTA) has announced that Telstra has achieved provisional certification of three teleports: Gnangara (Perth, Western Australia), Oxford Falls (New South Wales, Australia) and Stanley (Hong Kong) under WTA’s Teleport Certification Program — with these latest certifications, Australia now has the most WTA-certified teleports of any country in the world.
Since introduction at IBC 2015, the Certification program has quickly grown in popularity, with 12 teleports currently engaged in the quality evaluation process and certifications already issued to teleports owned by Eutelsat, du, Signalhorn, Optus, Globecomm, Horizon, Media Broadcast, Elara Comunicaciones, GlobalSat, Talia, Telenor, Vivacom, Cyta, Batelco, CETel, Etisalat, Speedcast, Singtel and Arqiva.
To achieve Provisional Certification, a teleport operator completes a +170-item questionnaire and submits that information to the WTA. The Association analyzes the data based on standards established by its Certification Committee and issues the Provisional Certification based on the self-reported information. The teleport then has six months to achieve Full Certification.
To achieve Full Certification under WTA’s program, an auditor is dispatched to visit the teleport, provide independent validation of the data submitted in the questionnaire and identify additional factors that may positively or negatively affect the score. Full Certification is issued at a Tier number from 1 through 4, of which 4 represents the highest degree of excellence, and remains in effect for 3 years.
WTA’s Teleport Certification Program serves both teleport operators and their customers by creating an objective, transparent, and internationally accepted method for teleport operators to document the quality of their operations for customers and strategic partners. It also provides a means for customers to select teleport vendors delivering the price-performance level that is appropriate for their applications. Click here for a list of certified teleports.
Executive Comment
WTA's Executive Director, Robert Bell, said that three companies — Telstra, Optus and Speedcast — have shown global leadership in applying for WTA certification of the quality of their teleports in Australia and other nations. The WTA is grateful to them for advancing high-quality operation across the industry.
For more information about the Teleport Certification Program, visit http://www.worldteleport.org/?page=Certification or email WTA Membership Director Randall Barney at rbarney@worldteleport.org.