KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 9): Malaysia is expected to achieve full 5G network coverage by 2024, as part of the government’s measures to address the near-term efforts in placing the country’s reopening on a stronger footing, according to Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.
In his keynote address at the National Recovery Summit — “Winning the War against COVID — The Road to Recovery” today, Tengku Zafrul said this is also to ensure the nation is well positioned to take full advantage of the megatrends of tomorrow in the mid and longer term.
“Furthermore, in terms of our 5G aspirations, we are also accelerating the development and growth of high speed, affordable, and reliable 5G connectivity and coverage for the socioeconomic benefit of all Malaysians.
“We will kick-start Phase 1 with 10% 5G coverage in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Cyberjaya by end-2021. Phase 1b will cover approximately 40% coverage in major cities in Selangor, Johor, Penang, Sabah and Sarawak by end-2022, to be followed by the rest of the country in stages with 100% national coverage targeted by 2024,” he said.
To recap, Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) in July this year said it was aiming to achieve the 80% population coverage goal by 2024. The government had appointed Ericsson Malaysia to build 5G infrastructure at a lower cost of RM11 billion.
At the National Recovery Summit today, Tengku Zafrul noted that the pandemic is changing and challenging the country’s economy and society in unprecedented ways.
“A post-Covid economy will be one of the dramatic shifts in trade and services as well as harnessing the power of information and technology. The pandemic has deepened inequality. Work norms we were familiar with have changed forever. Sustainability and climate change have grown more pressing. And the world has seen a rapid adoption of digitalisation and automation,” he said.
Tengku Zafrul noted another critical ingredient is the Malaysian Digital Economy Blueprint, or myDIGITAL, to drive the business sector to compete in the global arena by addressing both digital infrastructure and digital ecosystem.
“The former includes investments through the National Digital Network (JENDELA) project, investments to strengthen connectivity to the international submarine cable network until 2023, a 10-year plan for the implementation of 5G nationwide and in cloud services.
“Bringing myDIGITAL full circle are efforts to strengthen the digital ecosystem, be it in areas of supporting digital adoption to privacy and data protection,” he said. -The Edge Markets