Yesterday I've met shortly with France Telecom/Orange CEO, Didier Lombard (pictured), at Cafe de la Presse in San Francisco. The French operator was hosting a book signing event for "The Second Life of Networks", a book written by Lombard (with the help of Orange' Silicon Valley R&D boss, George Nahon) on the evolution of both wired and wireless networks.

When asked on his plans to enter the U.S. mobile market, following its direct peers (UK's Vodaphone which has a stake in Verizon or Germany's T-Mobile) Lombard answer was a resounding "Non": the French group had lost a lot of money the last time it tried to build a significant presence in the U.S. So this time around, France Telecom's U.S. presence will be built mainly through partnerships, unlike it's EU expansion strategy that had largely been through acquisitions.

During our conversation, Lombard also explained that the "Free" Ad-supported business model can work in the telecom space as long as somehow the money flows back to the operator... duhhh :-)

Also, the French PTT chief wants to receive reassurance on part of the national regulator before his company's start building out new wired and wireless high-speed networks. Something Lombard will be reluctant to do if his company is then forced to share the newly-built networks with its competitors.

For Lombard, customers have the upper hand in their relationship with their telecom operator. And currently, what customers want on their cell phones is video. And that's what Orange, France Telecom's mobile arm, will give them.

Finally, the Orange boss loves his iPhone and has already downloaded tons of applications on his device!

Check out the video of our conversation "in French" below.



And this is a short video of the ambiance at Cafe de la Presse. Among the "personalites" present at the book signing event were the French Consul General, Allegis Capital general partner Jean-Louis Gassee, Veodia's CEO Guillaume Cohen and my friend Lee Gomes of the Wall Street Journal.