KUALA LUMPUR – Putrajaya will invest RM21 billion over five years to strengthen internet connectivity through the National Digital Network’s (Jendela) public-private partnerships under the MyDigital initiative.
“A sum of RM15 billion will be invested over 10 years to implement 5G throughout the country. This effort will be implemented through a special entity or a special purpose vehicle under the government," Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said in the online launch of the country’s 10-year digital economy blueprint.
“This entity will be given a suitable spectrum to own, implement and manage the 5G infrastructure.”
During the online launch of the 10-year digital economy blueprint, he said that the fibre-optic network line will cover nearly 100% of residential areas in stages – from 7.5 million at the end of next year to nine million premises by the end of 2025.
He added that this fibre-optic network will allow the nation to migrate to the fifth-generation cellular networking technology (5G) in the shortest time possible.
He said another RM1.65 billion will be invested by telecommunications companies to strengthen Malaysia’s international undersea cable network until 2023 – allowing faster and more stable international data transfers and lowering internet costs for Malaysian users.
MyDigital has initiatives and targets across three phases of implementation until 2030. They are:
- By 2025, the digital economy is expected to contribute 22.6% to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP)
- The plan aims to provide 500,000 job opportunities in the digital economy
- The government encourages 875,000 micro, small and medium enterprises to accept the use of e-commerce
- The initiatives under MyDigital will serve as catalysts for 5,000 start-up companies to begin their operations in the next five years
- These initiatives will be the starting point to attract new investments worth RM70 billion in the digital sector, from within and outside the country
- The government is targeting for the level of productivity of the economic sector to increase by 30% by 2030
- For the public sector, all agencies will provide cashless transaction facilities as the main option by 2022.
The prime minister said all licensed telecommunications companies will have equal access to these infrastructures to market their 5G services.
“This infrastructure cost-sharing enables telecommunication companies to generate higher returns and, in turn, provide better and cheaper 5G services to consumers. This will boost the use of 5G, thus enhancing economic capability in triggering more product and service innovations.
“So, by the end of this year, 5G technology will start to be enjoyed by the rakyat in stages. With this, Malaysia will emerge as one of the first countries in this region to build a 5G ecosystem using internet and cloud services in real-time to enable instant sharing of information.”
Muhyiddin added that between RM12 and RM15 billion will be invested by cloud service provider (CSP) companies over the next five years.
So far, Putrajaya has given conditional approvals for four CSP companies – Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Telekom Malaysia – to build and manage hyperscale data centres and cloud services.
He expects that the hyper-scale data centres and hybrid cloud services will be created to increase data storage space, reducing operating costs and improving analytical efficiency.
“In addition, the government has proposed the appointment of three local ICT companies as managed service providers (MSP) to work with CSPs to manage their services for public agencies.
“This is in line with our intentions to strengthen the capabilities of local companies. The three companies are Enfrasys Solution Sdn Bhd, Prestariang Systems Sdn Bhd and Cloud Connect Sdn Bhd.”
Through the Cloud First strategy, Putrajaya will migrate 80% of public data to hybrid cloud systems by the end of 2022.
Muhyiddin said this will allow for a smoother and more effective data collection and management while reducing government costs in the long term.
“These services will allow big data, AI, Internet of Things and other applications to be utilised to enhance and strengthen government services.”
At the same time, he said the government will continue to help strengthen this new ecosystem through:
- creating a regulatory environment that can support digital use while protecting the privacy of citizens;
- administering public data resources so that it can be jointly utilised by public and private organisations, and;
- facilitating the evolution of the labour market in potentially disruptive industries through automation and digital technology.
He also expects that these companies will collaborate with local universities to establish the faculties of artificial intelligence and to work with the government to improve civil servants’ digital skills.
On cyber and data security, he said public data will be handled based on security standards set by the government through National Cyber Security Agency (Nacsa). – The Vibes, February 19, 2021
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