MyDIGITAL to create 500,000 jobs, contribute 22.6 pct to GDP by 2025 -- PM

The Prime Minister said the initiative would complement national development policies such as the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) and Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 (WKB 2030).

“MyDIGITAL sets out 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 per cent to the country's gross domestic product," he said when launching the MyDIGITAL and Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint virtually here on Friday.

Muhyiddin said that the government would also encourage 875,000 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to accept the use of e-commerce.

Besides that, he said the initiatives under the auspices of MyDIGITAL could also catalyse 5,000 startup companies in the next five years.

He said this initiative will also 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 the level of productivity of the economic sector to be 30 per cent higher than what has been achieved today, by 2030, he added.

For the public sector, he said all agencies will provide cashless transaction facilities as the main choice by 2022.

To spur innovation and create an effective digital ecosystem, he said four important types of digital infrastructure under MyDIGITAL need to be built first.

“This construction effort will be done through the Government and Private Partnership approach, where the private sector would contribute capital funding and skills.

"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 said the fixed line fibre optic network would cover almost 100 per cent populated areas in stages -- from 7.5 million premises by end-2022 to nine million premises by end-2025.

Based on this wider fibre optic network, he said the country will be better prepared to switch to the fifth generation cellular networking technology (5G) in the near future.

Second, he said a total of RM1.65 billion will be invested by several telecommunications companies to strengthen the connectivity to the international submarine cable network until 2023.

Muhyiddin said this will open up space for faster and more stable international data transfer, thus lowering internet costs to consumers in Malaysia.

Third, he said RM15 billion will be invested over the next 10 years for the implementation of 5G nationwide and this will create about 105,000 jobs.

“This effort will be implemented through a special entity or a 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 year-end, 5G technology will begin to be enjoyed by the people in stages, he said. “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, to enable information to be shared instantly.”

Fourth, he said between RM12 billion to RM15 billion will be invested by cloud service providers (CSP) over the next five years.

The Prime Minister 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 centres and cloud services.

This hyper-scale data centre, as well as hybrid cloud services, which will also be provided, will increase data storage space, reduce operating costs and improve analytical efficiency.