MUMBAI: PlanetCast has achieved tier 3 certification for its New Delhi Teleport under WTA’s Teleport Certification Programme by The World Teleport Association (WTA.
Since its introduction at IBC 2015, the certification programme has quickly become popular. Starting with one certified facility in 2015, the programme has added 40 teleports in 3 years, and at present has 12 teleports engaged in the quality evaluation process. Certifications have been issued to teleports operated by Servicio Satelital, USEI, AXESS Networks (AXESS), STN, Eutelsat, du, COMSAT, Optus, Elara Comunicaciones, GlobalSat, Talia, Telenor, Telespazio, Vivacom, Cyta, Singtel, CETel, 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, for which 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.
Planetcast founder director MN Vyas said, “We operate the largest teleport in this part of the world and we are providing services to top broadcasters across the globe. The certification received from WTA is a part of our continued efforts to create an environment of high quality services emerging from India.”
“With the addition of PlanetCast, WTA has fully certified teleports operating in the US, Columbia, Mexico, Dubai, the UAE, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Norway, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Australia, Indonesia, India and Singapore,” said executive director Robert Bell. “The growth of the program speaks to its value as a market differentiator and the value of the insight it gives operators into the strengths and weaknesses of their facilities and procedures.”
WTA’s Teleport Certification Programme 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.
