Disney revives MVNO overseas

While Disney failed to get its family-oriented mobile virtual network operator off the ground in the U.S. and Europe, it is revisiting the idea of the MVNO in Mickey Mouse-obsessed Japan.

Japanese mobile operator Softbank today said it had struck a deal with Disney for the U.S. entertainment giant to offer a mobile service over its network. Disney officials in Japan confirmed the partnership, but neither companies offered many details. A new Disney Mobile in Japan would have to succeed where it failed in the U.S. In September Disney announced it would shut down its highly-touted MVNO, saying it would support regular voice and SMS services for its existing customers through December.

The Softbank launch, however, may not be in the same vein of the U.S. launch. Disney focused on family-oriented applications in the U.S. rather than Disney content drawn from its enormously popular roster of cartoon characters, movies and games. Disney Mobile promoted applications like GPS-based family tracking, parental controls and shared calendars. In Japan it may choose to launch a service focused solely on Disney content, given not only that country’s unusually high interest in Disney films, theme parks and merchandize but also Japan’s much higher adoption of mobile content in general.

The new service also may not take the form of a traditional MVNO, which have mainly failed in the U.S. While news reports have said Disney would rent network access on Softbank’s network, much as it leased airtime on the Sprint network, Disney may choose not to take the complete virtual operator approach it took in its other attempts. It may integrate with back office, billing and provisioning on the Softbank network. It may also opt to become a co-branded service on the Softbank network, offering a unique set of phones and services through Softbank, but not completely separate from it.

Disney has taken that approach with its other failed MVNO, Mobile ESPN, which shut down last year after it failed to gain the following Disney expected. Disney, however, recreated the MVNO as a pure content offering, selling Mobile ESPN’s former array of Sports programming over the Verizon Wireless V Cast deck.