The World Teleport Association (WTA) has announced that SageNet has achieved Tier 4 certification of its Marietta (Atlanta, Georgia, USA) Teleport under WTA’s Teleport Certification Program.
The Marietta certification marks the 64th issued since the program was launched at IBC 2015, and another six teleports are currently engaged in the quality evaluation process. The program provides 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.
Certification is issued on a Provisional (self-reported) basis after completion of a +170-item questionnaire that is evaluated against standards developed by WTA’s Certification Committee. 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.
Certifications have been issued to teleports operated by IABG Teleport, A1 Telekom Austria Group, Hispasat, Gomedia Satcom, Azercosmos, Speedcast, Servicio Satelital, USEI, AXESS Networks, Yahsat, STN, Eutelsat, du, COMSAT, Nilesat, e&, Optus, Horizon Teleports, Telespazio, Vivacom, Cyta, PlanetCast, Globecast, KT sat, Singtel, Hellas Sat, Orange, Hawaii Pacific Teleport, Intelsat, Globecast, SMS, Telstra, Primacom, Santander Teleport and Arqiva.
“It is a great honor to be recognized by the WTA alongside world-class organizations to have achieved the Tier 4 certification before us,” said SageNet’s EVP of Satellite Services, John Brader. “A true validation of all the hard work the SageNet team has given over the last 25 plus years.”
“The Certification program was originally suggested to WTA by a satellite operator that wanted help in qualifying third-party teleports for its network,” said WTA executive director Robert Bell. “Since then, we have certified teleports in more than 25 countries around the world, which you can see on our Global Teleport Map. The more teleports we certify, the greater grows the value of Teleport Certification to service providers, satellite operators and customers.”