Walt Disney, US media and entertainment company is ready to launch mobile services in the Japanese market by next year (2008).

To join cell phone operations, the Japan-based division of Walt Disney Co. has signed up a fundamental contract with Japanese Internet and telecom firm Softbank Corp.

As per the contract, Disney will take telecommunication networks from a Softbank unit, Softbank Mobile Corp. on rent, and start offering service to the country.

The companies’ officials do not comment on the report.

Disney has also collaborated with Softbank to build up mobile phones and deliver their output to other companies.

The handsets would be sold at Softbank Mobile’s 2,400 sales outlets crosswise Japan. Disney aspires to sign up over one million subscribers.

Disney will make use of its well-known characters in making its phone handsets, and offering up its animated movies for downloading exclusively to subscribers.

Launching cell phone services in Japan requires a huge initial investment because it costs about one trillion yen (8.7 billion dollars) to build a network of base stations.