This paper proposes a development methodology for distributed applications based on the principles and concepts of the Model-Driven Architecture (MDA). The paper identifies phases and activities of an MDAbased development trajectory, and defines the roles and products of each activity in accordance with the Software Process Engineering Metamodel (SPEM). The development methodology presented in this paper is being developed and applied in the European 5th Framework project MODA-TEL, which aims at assessing the applicability and potential of MDA in the context of telecom services and applications. The paper claims that the proposed methodology is general enough to be applicable to distributed applications in other domains as well.