Eutelsat’s giant Rambouillet teleport, just outside Paris, has had its Tier 4 certification renewed following an audit by the World Teleport Association.

Since its introduction at IBC 2015, the Certification program has quickly grown in popularity, says the WTA. Starting with one certified facility in 2015, the programme has certified 56 and currently has eight 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, SMS Teleport, Talia, Telenor, Telespazio, Vivacom, Cyta, Singtel, e& by Etisalat, Hawaii Pacific Teleport, Intelsat, IABG Teleport, Globecast, Orange, Telstra, Primacom, Santander Teleport, Nilesat, 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.

The WTA’s requirements are tough. To achieve Provisional Certification, a teleport operator completes a +170-item questionnaire and submits it to WTA. The Association analyses 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 programme, 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 one through four, of which four represents the highest degree of excellence, and remains in effect for three years.

Jesus Mendez, Head of 3rd party Teleports at Eutelsat Group, stated: “Since the launch of the WTA certification, Eutelsat Group has been awarded the highest level of certification, designating the infrastructure of Paris-Rambouillet Teleport as Tier-4 and reaffirming our highest operational standards through this recent recertification, both in terms of infrastructure, security and customer service’s management. The achievement of this top-tier certification not only underscores the maturity of Eutelsat Group’s operational procedures, the daily commitment to excellence, customer-centricity and reliability in delivering world-class Teleport services and ground segment operations, but also demonstrates the capabilities of our technical teams to innovate and set industry-leading standards while providing our customers with the highest quality of service for global connectivity and worldwide content distribution.”