The World Teleport Association (WTA) has announced that Hellas Sat has achieved Full Certification of its Cyprus Space Centre under WTA’s Teleport Certification Program.
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 three years, and currently has 12 teleports engaged in the quality evaluation process. Certifications have been issued to teleports operated by Azercosmos, A1 Telekom Austria, Servicio Satelital, USEI, AXESS Networks, STN, Eutelsat, du, COMSAT, Optus, Elara Comunicaciones, GlobalSat, Talia, Telenor, Telespazio, Vivacom, Cyta, Singtel, Etisalat, Hawaii Pacific Teleport, Intelsat, Telstra, Primacom, Santander Teleport, Hellas Sat 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.
Full Certification under the WTA program is the result of a comprehensive data-collection and inspection process. 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 three years.
“At HELLAS SAT we are always committed to the highest standards and professionalism in the provision of high-quality services to our customers,” said CEO Christodoulos Protopapas. “The acknowledgment of these high standards from the WTA with the provision of TIER 4 certification for the HELLAS SAT Teleport in Cyprus made us proud and at the same time reinforce our commitment to continue, serving and supporting our customers growing their business and services.”
“Hellas Sat joins satellite operators from Intelsat and Eutelsat to Azercosmos, Optus and Singtel in certifying its ground segment with WTA,” said executive director Robert Bell. “In addition to independent validation of their own quality of service, the certification program reduces the time and expense of validating teleport partners for introduction into their service networks. That’s a double value for all involved.”
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.