By BERNAMA / Pic By MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

Mobile cellular penetration in Malaysia has reached 131.8% while smartphone penetration stood at 70% in the third quarter of last year (3Q17).

Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) chairman Tan Sri Dr Halim Shafie said Malaysia’s broadband has been keeping up with the demand from customers, with broadband penetration currently at 84.5%, as stated in the “3Q 2017 Communications & Multimedia: Facts & Figure” report.

“MCMC has been working tirelessly towards achieving broadband ubiquity and high-level smartphone penetration,” he said prior to a press conference on the Malaysia FinTech Expo 2018 in Cyberjaya yesterday.

The text of his speech was read by MCMC Network Security, New Media Monitoring, Compliance and Advocacy Sector chief officer Dr Fadhlullah Suhaimi Abdul Malek.

Halim said e-payment would be one of the key factors in ensuring the success of Malaysia’s vision for the digital economy, adding that the outlook for e-payment is very encouraging.

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) had said recently that the volume of individual Internet banking transactions had grown more than threefold, from 141.3 million transactions in 2011 to 435.4 million in 2016.

“This positive growth can be attributed to pricing and market incentive framework implemented by BNM, as well as the continuous awareness programme by the central bank and the banking industry to enhance confidence in the use of Internet banking,” he said.

Halim said banking fraud losses sustained by individuals in Malaysia remained very low at 0.0004% of total transaction volume and 0.0017% of total transaction value in 2016.

The Malaysia FinTech Expo, to be held on March 5-6, will feature an exhibition, forums, meet and pitch sessions, pocket talks and an award ceremony.