Disney's Mobile ESPN MVNO, which recently closed shop here in the U.S. [1], is still moving ahead with its scheduled MVNO launch in India today. India is part of the BRIC block of emerging markets (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and is thus, a far cry from the saturated market here in the U.S. It seems likely that an MVNO would have a greater potential for survival in India.
Yesterday, we reported that the MVNO Amp'd Mobile would be licensing its content to Japanese carrier KDDI [2], which encouraged many MVNO naysayers to point to the failed Mobile ESPN MVNO and its transition to content provider as a trailblazer for Amp'd. I think that Amp'd has a little juice left yet, they just got Swenson officially onboard [3], so maybe they can hang in there. ESPN's announcement today shows that MVNOs can play dual roles: those of carrier and service provider.
For more on Mobile ESPN's move in India:
- see this article [4] from IndianTelevision
Links:
[1] http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/mobile-espn-to-end-operations/2006-09-28
[2] http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/amp-d-s-content-goes-to-japan/2006-10-31
[3] http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/c-amp-l-amp-d-gets-swenson-as-coo-stone-is-pres/2006-10-30
[4] http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k6/oct/oct318.htm