The World Teleport Association (WTA) has announced that Azercosmos has achieved Tier 4 certification for its teleport in Baku, Azerbaijan 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 3 years, and currently has 12 teleports engaged in the quality evaluation process. Certifications have been issued to teleports operated by Servicio Satelital, USEI, AXESS Networks, STN, Eutelsat, du, COMSAT, Optus, 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.
“WTA certification is a great independent measure of the effort, the team at Azercosmos has put in over the years to provide our customers with the most robust, efficient and effective teleport services possible. Achieving certification demonstrates our commitment and investment in the people, infrastructure, technology and processes to ensure that we provide world class service by an independent measure.”
“Azercosmos joined the nations of the world with their own satellite system in 2013 with the launch of Azerspace-1. Receiving a Tier 4 Certification of their Baku Teleport just seven years later is a major achievement,” said executive director Robert Bell. “We appreciate their willingness to submit their facility, technology and procedures to independent inspection by WTA and congratulate them on the outcome.”
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.