The Malaysian government has officially launched its Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDIGITAL) to transform Malaysia into a digitally-driven, high-income nation and a regional leader in the digital economy. The digital transformation plan is projected to contribute 22.6% to Malaysia’s GDP and create 500,000 job opportunities by 2025.
The implementation of MyDIGITAL is divided into three phases:
- Phase 1 (2021 to 2022) to focus on strengthening the foundation of digital adoption
- Phase 2 (2023 to 2025) to drive inclusive digital transformation, and
- Phase 3 (2026 to 2030) to transform Malaysia into digital content and cybersecurity lead in the regional market.
Underlying the three phases, the blueprint has identified six strategic thrusts to accelerate and boost digital adoption nationwide in the public sector, economic competitiveness, digital infrastructure, creating agile and competent digital talent, inclusive digital society, and building trusted, secure, and ethical digital environment. These strategic thrusts are supported by 22 strategies, 48 national initiatives, and 28 sectoral initiatives.
In particular, the government will concentrate on advancing four digital infrastructure projects, which will be implemented through public-private partnerships:
- Malaysia will spend MYR 21 billion (USD 5.06 billion) for the national digital infrastructure plan (JENDELA) to improve existing connectivity. This optical fiber network will cover almost 100% of populated areas in stages, from 7.5 million premises by the end of 2022 to 9 million premises by the end of 2025.
- Local telecommunication companies such as TM, Celcom Axiata, and Maxis will invest MYR 1.65 billion (USD 397 million) to strengthen international submarine cable network connectivity by 2023. This will allow faster and more stable data transfers while reducing internet costs.
- The government will invest MYR 15 billion (USD 3.6 billion) over the next 10 years for the implementation of 5G nationwide, which will be undertaken via a special purpose vehicle (SPV). The SPV will manage and provide all licensed telecommunication companies equal access to infrastructure and market 5G services.
- Four major cloud service providers (CSP) namely Microsoft Corp, Google Inc, Amazon Inc, and Telekom Malaysia (TM) are projected to invest MYR 12 billion (USD 2.89 billion) and MYR 15 billion (USD 3.6 billion) over the next five years. The government has appointed these CSPs to build and manage hyper-scale data centers and cloud services in the country. Additionally, three local ICT companies were also chosen as managed service providers (MSPs) to work and manage services for public sector agencies.
(Sources: EPU, Edge Markets; Malay Mail)
