In a recent interview, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has emphasized the importance of public-private cooperation towards digitalization. The Malaysian government has plans to work with the private sector to increase the number of Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0) councils and make large-scale investments to improve connectivity across the country.
Accelerating digital connectivity is an increasingly important priority in the wake of COVID-19 when small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are major contributors to the nation’s GDP, have to shift to online trading or e-commerce to reach more buyers.
PM Yassin noted that while the connectivity level nationwide had reached between 80 and 90%, a large allocation in Budget 2021 will be used to upgrade the infrastructure and fill in the vacuum to boost the digitalization process. Accordingly, Malaysia’s Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz announced in his Budget 2021 speech that the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission would allocate RM 7.4 billion (USD 1.8 billion) to build and upgrade broadband services in 2021 and 2022.
(Sources: Malay Mail; New Straits Times)
