IT consultancy Satyam is to take responsibility for testing of KPN's fixed, mobile, and internet divisions for the next three years.

Telco KPN operates in the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium. Satyam will become a key partner in creating systems and processes for testing and QA - largely through its offshore development centre.

KPN chief information officer Jan Muchez sees the development as part of a wider trend to move away from new products towards ensuring quality of service (QoS).

QoS used to be par for the course for any telco, but in such a competitive market the pressure to reduce costs provides an opportunity for reliability to become a selling point.

KNP will keep its own inhouse testing and QA group, which will work with Satyam while focusing on more core activities. ®