THE small and medium enterprise (SME) sector in the country offers Telekom Malaysia Bhd plenty of opportunities to grow its information and communication technology (ICT) business.

Telekom Malaysia executive vice-president Imri Mokhtar (consumer and SME) said only about 30% of the SME market had adopted ICT solutions.

“As SMEs contribute a significant 35.9% share to our gross domestic product, we are committed to empowering them with the latest ICT solutions.

“It is expected that SMEs will fully utilise ICT and embrace digitalisation in their business operations to be more productive and globally competitive,” he said at the launch of SME BizFest 2016 at a hotel in Penang yesterday.

Imri said that the faster SMEs integrate ICT into their business operations, the faster they would be able to create innovations to dominate the market and contribute towards the country’s economic growth.

“About 90% of the SMEs in the country are already connected to the Internet.”

He said Penang was chosen as the location to kick off SME BizFest 2016 because it had a fast-growing SME market and Telekom Malaysia wanted to be part of the growth.

“Presently, Telekom Malaysia provides ICT solutions for SMEs to manage payments, security and productivity.”

Besides Penang, SME BizFest will also be held in Ipoh, Kota Baru, Johor Baru, Kota Kinabalu and Petaling Jaya.