More submarine cables to Sarawak in the pipeline to develop its digital economy - Annuar

KUCHING: The government is in discussions to enable more submarine cables to be connected to Sarawak in an effort to develop the state's digital economy, Communications and Multimedia Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa said.

He said the development of Sarawak's digital economy is on the right track to allow it to play a role as a hub at the global level in line with the Sarawak Digital Economy 2018-2025.

"We are in discussions for Sarawak to have more landing points and for the setting up of data centres that could facilitate cloud computing in the state," he told reporters today.

He said this after spending about two hours visiting the operation of and listening to a briefing on the Tabung Ekonomi Gagasan Anak Sarawak (TEGAS) Digital Village (TDV), which was launched last month at Sama Jaya High Tech Park here.

Annuar congratulated the Sarawak state government under the leadership of Chief Minister Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg who made the allocation to TEGAS in a bid to develop TDV as a catalyst for the state's digital economy.

"I feel this model should be studied by other states, and it will be good if this method is done in every state," he said.

According to Annuar, Sarawak has been chosen to be among the earliest states to receive 5G services following their launch at the end of this year.

"The state government under the chief minister's leadership has convinced the Federal Government that it is prepared to embrace all that is planned, as not all states are able to implement 5G, and Sarawak is among the states that we have given precedence," he said.

Meanwhile, Annuar welcomed Gabungan Parti Sarawak's (GPS) commitment towards the development of the digital economy through its manifesto for the 12th Sarawak state election.

"Such planning is in line with the national framework such as the MyDIGITAL initiative which is being followed by a programme to complete the infrastructure for supporting a larger and more effective ecosystem," he added.

Yesterday, Abang Johari, who is also GPS chairman, said the coalition would be adopting the theme "Sarawak First" for the upcoming election and would focus on the digital economy as well as sustainability and the environment.

-- BERNAMA