Another provisional certification has been announced by the World Teleport Association (WTA). WTA announced that Azercosmos has achieved provisional certification of its teleport in Baku, Azerbaijan under WTA’s Teleport Certification Program. Founded in 2010, Azercosmos operates Azerspace-1 & Azerspace -2 providing communication services to enterprise and government customers for DTH, voice, video, data and mobility applications. Azercosmos also operates Azersky a high-resolution satellite which provides imagery and earth observation services.
Since its introduction at IBC 2015, the Certification program has quickly grown in popularity. Starting with one certified facility in 2015, the program has added 40 in 3 years, and currently has 12 teleports engaged in the quality evaluation process. Certifications have been issued to teleports operated by A1 Telekom Austria, Servicio Satelital, USEI, AXESS Networks, STN, Eutelsat, COMSAT, Elara Comunicaciones, GlobalSat, Talia, Telenor, Telespazio, Vivacom, Cyta, Batelco, Singtel, SMS, Etisalat, Hawaii Pacific Teleport, Intelsat, Speedcast, Telstra Primacom, Santander Teleport and Arqiva. The industry has quickly adopted the transparent, independently verified standards as a means for teleports to differentiate themselves and for customers to choose the price-performance level suitable for their applications.
To achieve Provisional Certification, a teleport operator completes a +170-item questionnaire and submits it to 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.
Mark Guthrie, Chief Commercial Officer at Azercosmos said that being awarded certification by the World Teleport Association is a tremendous achievement and great honor for Azercosmos. This certification means that Azercosmos fully meets the requirements set by the WTA. Ä°t is a guarantee of high quality and technological compliance by their teleport services. It will enable them to attract potential new customers and further expand their services.
Executive director Robert Bell added that certification offers assurance to customers about the quality of service they can expect from a teleport operator, based on internationally accepted standards. Major satellite operators, telecom carriers and other customers for teleport services have introduced Teleport Certification questions into their requests for proposal, and they hear from teleport operators that Certification gives them a competitive advantage.
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 priceâ€