The MyDIGITAL initiative launched today is expected to open 500,000 jobs in the digital economy and will contribute 22.6% to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
According to the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin, this initiative is a complement to the national development policy such as the Twelfth Malaysia Plan (12MP) and the Vision for Common Prosperity 2030 (WKB 2030).
“MyDIGITAL sets a combination of initiatives and targets across the three phases of implementation until 2030.
"By 2025, the digital economy is expected to contribute 22.6% to the country's GDP," he said at the MyDIGITAL Launching Ceremony and the Malaysian Digital Economy Framework today virtually.
Muhyiddin said as quoted by Bernama, the government will also encourage 875,000 micro, small and medium enterprises to accept the use of e-commerce.
Apart from that, he said, these initiatives under the auspices of MyDIGITAL could also catalyze 5,000 start-up companies or ‘startups’ in the next five years.
He explained that this initiative will be the starting point to attract new investments in the digital sector worth RM70 billion from within and outside the country.
Next, the government is targeting the level of productivity of the economic sector to increase 30% higher than today by 2030.
For the public sector, all agencies will provide cashless transaction facilities as the main choice by 2022.
Meanwhile, to boost innovation and create an effective digital ecosystem, four important types of digital infrastructure under MyDIGITAL need to be built first.
“This construction effort will be done through a joint venture between the government and the private sector where the private sector will share in contributing capital and skills funds.
"First, a total of RM21 billion will be invested over five years through the National Digital Network (JENDELA) project to strengthen existing connectivity," he said.
Muhyiddin added that this fixed line optical fiber network will cover almost 100% of the populated areas in stages, from 7.5 million premises by the end of 2022 to 9.0 million premises by the end of 2025.
Based on this wider fiber optic network, the country will be better prepared to switch to fifth generation (5G) cellular network technology in the near future.
Second, a total of RM1.65 billion will be invested by several telecommunications companies to strengthen the connection to the international submarine cable network until 2023.
According to Muhyiddin, the move is a space for faster and more stable international data transfer, thus lowering internet costs to consumers in Malaysia.
Third, a total of RM15 billion will be invested over 10 years for the implementation of 5G nationwide and this will create approximately 105,000 job opportunities.
"This effort will be implemented through a special entity or 'special purpose vehicle' under the Malaysian government.
"This entity will then be given the appropriate spectrum to own, implement and manage 5G infrastructure," he said, adding that all licensed telecommunications companies will have equal access to infrastructure, in marketing 5G services to their customers.
By the end of this year, 5G technology will begin to be enjoyed by the people in stages.
With this, Malaysia will be one of the first countries in the region to build a 5G ecosystem using the internet and cloud services in real-time (real-time) to enable information to be shared instantly.
Fourth, between RM12 billion to RM15 billion will be invested by cloud service providers (Cloud Service Provider - CSP) in the next five years.
Muhyiddin also announced that the government has so far given conditional permission to four CSP companies, namely Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Telekom Malaysia - to build and manage hyper-scale data centers and cloud services.
This hyper-scaled data center as well as hybrid cloud services will also be created to increase data storage space, reduce operating costs and improve analytical efficiency.
