Photo/Illutration The Comic C'moA digital manga website operated by an NTT West subsidiary (Fumiko Kuribayashi)

Comic C'moA (pronounced "see-moa"), one of Japan's largest e-book and manga sales websites, is set to start its overseas expansion in full swing.

Masaaki Moribayashi, president of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West Corp. (NTT West), the parent company of its operator, NTT Solmare Corp. made the announcement during a news conference on June 29. 

While the digital book market is dominated by U.S.-based Amazon.com Inc., which offers Kindle e-books, and other IT giants, Moribayashi sees a business opportunity in manga for its popularity across the world.

NTT Solmare launched the predecessor of Comic C'moA for feature phones in 2004.

The e-book website mainly handles comics, also offering time-limited "rental" and free manga titles.

In recent years, "Housekeeper Nagisa-san" and other works exclusively streamed on Comic C'moA have been adapted into live-action TV series.

Moribayashi, who took office as NTT West president on June 17, has been involved in overseas business operations for many years.

Most recently, he had served as vice president of London-based NTT Ltd., which is in charge of overseas telecommunications operations.

"Japanese comics are also extremely popular in Europe," he said. "I think (overseas expansion) looks promising in a considerably large area, which covers Europe and Asia."

The president said the company has yet to have concrete plans, but it intends to start procedures for contracts and other business matters by the end of March next year.

NTT West has seen a steady decline in the number of telephone subscribers for many years due to the widespread use of feature phones and smartphones.

The company has faced a challenge of nurturing a new source of earnings.

Moribayashi said he wants to increase its sales ratio of new businesses to 50 percent by the end of March 2026, adding, "We want to make a second and third Solmares."

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