WTA Announces the 2019 Independent Teleport Operator and Teleport Technology of the Year

WASHINGTON, DC, May 8, 2019 — The World Teleport Association (WTA) today announced the winners of the 24th annual Teleport Awards for Excellence during an exclusive luncheon at SATELLITE 2019. The awards are presented each year to organizations and individuals in the teleport industry whose achievements have been deemed exceptional by the international trade association and its awards committees, made up of industry members from across the globe.

The 2019 recipients are:

Independent Teleport Operator of the Year: Santander Teleport

Santander Teleport is an independent teleport operator offering satellite communication services in C, X and Ku bands for enterprise and government markets in a number of sectors including maritime, enterprise, and defense. Its teleport facilities in Spain provide access to the geostationary arc between 67W to 65E thus covering a region from Western Australia to North America, Mediterranean Sea, Indian and Atlantic Oceans. The teleport infrastructure is fully managed 24/7 by the Network Operations Centre providing support in European time zone and English/Spanish languages to deliver excellence is customer service.

The company’s mission is to provide highly reliable satellite communications services and solutions to enable our clients to outperform in the most hostile environments. Santander Teleport brings its customers technical and operational excellence of the highest order via a recently upgraded facility, including a new modernized Teleport Operations Room to oversee all technical and operations aspects of the company’s facilities, infrastructure and services and a new state-of-the-art lab and training room named The Academy. The Academy has already hosted a number of theoretical and hands-on training sessions for both employees and customers, and it has also witnessed the development of new software applications and pilot tests for new services. Click here to learn more about Santander.

Teleport Technology of the Year: nanoCDN for Satellite by Broadpeak

Broadpeak’s nanoCDN for satellite allows satellite TV providers to deliver a true multiscreen experience with Adaptive Bitrate content while preserving the quality of traditional satellite distribution. The technology converts unicast streams into multicast so that content can be delivered over the satellite to a local gateway. Broadpeak’s nanoCDN for satellite allows operators to deliver live TV content not only to STB equipped with a satellite signal receiver but to all the screens in the house. In addition, by deploying a circular buffer within the reception gateway, satellite TV providers can further expand their offering to include on all screens advanced services such as trick play and start-over TV for increased monetization.

nanoCDN allows satellite TV providers to come back into the “TV everywhere” game and push their key asset against traditional broadband services providers: a global reach in regions where infrastructure does not always exist or has limited capacities. Knowing that quality is important to consumers, nanoCDN for satellite enables operators to deliver multiscreen video services with the same quality of experience as satellite broadcast, providing a latency equal than traditional satellite systems, with no buffering or bitrate limitation during peak hours. Click here to read more.

“Our 2019 award winners represent the two qualities that keep the teleport industry growing,” said executive director Robert Bell. “They are absolute commitment to quality of service for customers and technical innovation that expands their opportunities.”

In addition to honoring the winner from these two awards categories, WTA presented the 2019 Teleport Executive of the Year Award to Guido Neumann, Managing Director of CETel at the luncheon, hosted by Walton De-Ice. WTA also presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to William Bartlett Walton Jr., President of W.B. Walton Enterprises, Inc. The over 150 luncheon attendees included teleport, satellite and content distribution technology industry executives, as well as previous awards recipients from around the world. WTA’s director of development Louis Zacharilla emceed the event.

Since 1985, the World Teleport Association has focused on improving the business of satellite communications from the ground up. At the core of its membership are the world's most innovative operators of teleports, from independents to multinationals, niche service providers to global carriers. WTA is dedicated to advocating for the interests of teleport operators in the global telecommunications market and promoting excellence in teleport business practice, technology and operations.