I’ve been to many teleports all over the world and having worked in one for several years, it never ceases to amaze me how teleports which provide essentially similar services can still be unique in their own way. This was the case when I visited the sprawling VIVACOM teleport in Plana, Bulgaria about 30 kilometers south of the capital city of Sofia. This is one of the largest ground station facilities in Eastern Europe with more than 50 antennas ranging in size up to 18.3 meters.
The VIVACOM teleport is the oldest teleport I have ever had the privilege of visiting, having been established in 1977. However, nothing in the teleport today show its age, with the exception of the experience and expertise of their staff, who pride themselves in their over 40 years of continuous operation. The teleport was the first in Bulgaria. It’s a state of the art teleport well poised for the innovative services that are required in the competitive new media environment.
VIVACOM is the largest telecommunication company in Bulgaria with a full service portfolio including fixed and mobile networks, digital interactive TV, high speed internet, international fiber optic connectivity and teleport services. The World Teleport Association (WTA) has accorded VIVACOM’s teleport Tier 3 full certification under WTA’s Teleport Certification Program which places it among the most modern telecommunication facilities of its kind worldwide.
The teleport’s location in Bulgaria provides a strategic location between Europe and Asia and Middle East and Africa. “The geographical location of our Plana teleport allows us to provide uplink and downlink services to satellites from 40° West to 90° East. We provide access to one of the most popular satellite positions covering Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. VIVACOM has pointed antennas to satellite positions and beams which are not accessible from Central and Western Europe and Americas. We can quickly and easily add new uplink or downlink carriers and provide the signal at our major PoP’s in Europe like Frankfurt, London, Paris and many others,” said Vladimir Rangelov, Senior Sales Manager-VIVACOM.
The teleport itself is located in a very beautiful valley in the mountains south of the vibrant capital city of Bulgaria, less than an hour from Sofia’s international airport. It’s in a very secure area where the road leading up to the teleport ends in the sparsely populated valley where the teleport lies. The location of the teleport was specifically selected due to minimal rainfall and excellent protection against electromagnetic interference. This is extremely important for the growing market for Ka-band transmissions, according to Rangelov. This makes the location ideal for earth stations and gateways for the upcoming Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations and GEO HTS satellites. The teleport sits on 48,000 square meters of land where it has substantial room for expansion for additional antennass.
Currently, VIVACOM teleport’s main business is still broadcast services. The arth station uplinks more than 200 TV and radio channels for Europe, Africa and Latin America and provides play out solutions bundled with the satellite transmission services. It also hosts several Multiple Channels Per Carrier (MCPC) platforms for various satellites including Eutelsat, Intelsat, SES, Gazprom and HellasSat covering Europe, Africa and Latin America. Among it’s clients include leading international broadcasters such as Disney, FOX Networks, National Geographic, Viacom and Viasat who count on VIVACOM as a reliable and trusted partner, said Rangelov.
The company, however, has a clear view of the future of their business. They have made substantial investments in upgrading its facilities to meet the requirements of the new services including enhancing the power plant of the teleport to 1MW and its terrestrial connectivity with redundant DWDM fiber links to main PoP’s in Europe. They also invested in the latest DVB-S2x iDirect hub providing regional Maritime VSAT coverage and land VSAT in Africa, where they see growing demand.
But they clearly have their sights on the upcoming LEO constellations and the new GEO HTS projects and have made key investments in preparation for that. They have already been selected by Eutelsat to host one of their Ka-Band gateways. VIVACOM also hosts S- and X-band LEO earth station for nano satellites for its partner Endurosat–a Bulgarian company, manufacturing cubesats. They provide end-to-end LEO Ground Station Services with Endurosat and are prepared to provide similar hosting and gateway services for the upcoming LEO constellations.
Apart from its superb infrastructure, VIACOM has a dedicated team of professionals who are very passionate about satellite communications. “But the most important advantage is that we’re providing the right service fast and on time. We exceed our customer expectations and we deliver more for our clients with unparalled service reliability. Customers also optimize their costs using our services. We invest long term in satellite business and we have excellent relationship with our partners and clients,” said Rangelov.
With increasing competition and changing customer requirements, these are challenging times in the teleport business. With such a rich history, VIVACOM is able to draw on its vast experience while making key investments for the future. It’s a teleport well equipped to face the coming challenges ahead.
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Virgil Labrador is the Editor-in-Chief of Los Angeles, California-based Satellite Markets and Research which publishes a web portal on the satellite industry www.satellitemarkets.com, the monthly Satellite Executive Briefing magazine and occasional industry reports called MarketBriefs. Virgil is one of the few trade journalists who has a proven track record working in the commercial satellite industry. He worked as a senior executive for a teleport in Singapore, the Asia Broadcast Center, then-owned by the US broadcasting company CBS. He has co-authored two books on the history of satellite communications and satellite technology. He holds a Master’s in Communications Management from the University of Southern California (USC). He can be reached at virgil@satellitemarkets.com.
