A recurring theme of this blog, and the principle on which Solegy was founded, is that applications will drive a new era of growth and dynamicism in the telecom industry. In a nutshell, applications will be available from many sources and will not be tied to the access network. In this application-centric view of the world, users control their own destiny by choosing the network and applications they want to use independently. As Alex Saunders recently wrote:

As a vendor of each of these services, you may have multiple relationships with other providers of other services. You may provide wholesale services from some vendors, and retail your services direct to the customer. Or, you may be the wholesaler, selling through another vendor. Or, you may leave that choice to the consumer. Services may be offered bundled, or unbundled. It really doesn’t matter.

Before this vision of the network can be realized, however, the incumbent telcos must stop viewing application providers as competitors and start treating them as partners and customers. This constitutes a dramatic change in the business model of the telcos, where the services are traditionally home grown and always vertically integrated. Among those observers who agree with the application-centric vision, the general concsensus is that these changes will not happen quickly. And in my opinion, it will require real competition from a credible third party access provider – one that embraces the application-centric model – to force telcos to see the light.

But now, from across the Atlantic, come signs of progress. Orange, the France Telecom brand with nearly 90 million subscribers in six countries and the second largest ADSL network in the world, recently started promoting its Orange Partner program – designed to empower third-party application developers to create applications as part of its ecosystem.

According to the Orange Partner website:

Orange Partner is intended to stimulate developers into creating exciting and innovative applications for our 50 million customers. It provides support, tools, information, testing and certification, as well as access to Orange 3G Developer Centres across the globe. The successful creation and distribution of innovative applications and services will be a crucial element in ensuring that the investment in third generation technologies – and the accordant benefits to customers and consequential operator revenues – are exploited to their full potential.

These are revolutionary ideas emanating from France’s incumbent monopoly. Here’s to hoping that the rest of the world will take heed and follow suite.