BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: The Digital Brunei Council has announced the launch of Digital Brunei 2030: The Digital Brunei Transformation Plan, a five-year national roadmap outlining the country’s strategic direction for digital growth through to 2030.
Formulated with the consent of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, the masterplan themed ‘Together Towards a Digital Brunei’ marks the next phase of Brunei’s digital journey, building upon the foundations established by the Digital Economy Masterplan 2025 in support of the long-term aspirations of Brunei Vision 2035.
Digital Brunei 2030 brings together four national strategies under a single coordinated framework.
These strategies are the Digital Government Strategy, Digital Society Strategy, Digital Business Strategy, and the cross-cutting Data and Artificial Intelligence Strategy.
Developed through a consultative process, including the Digital Brunei Transformation Workshop held last year on August 25, which convened leaders from across ministries, agencies, industry and civil society, the masterplan reflects Brunei’s transition from establishing foundational digital capabilities to ensuring these investments deliver tangible and sustainable outcomes for the economy, government and society.
The masterplan emphasises alignment across ministries and agencies, between the public and private sectors, and between policy intent and delivery-reducing fragmentation, improving efficiency and ensuring digital initiatives reinforce rather than duplicate one another.
The release comes at a time when the country’s digital foundations are in place. Over the past decade, Unified National Networks has laid more than 6,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable, extended mobile coverage from 80 per cent to 96 per cent, and delivered nationwide 5G connectivity.
Since its launch in January this year, BruneiID has begun enabling secure single-credential access to government services, while the Tarus digital payment hub continues to process transactions since going live in March 2025.
Connectivity is no longer a constraint on the nation’s ambitions, but rather a national asset, and Bruneians have demonstrated both the capability and the confidence to embrace what comes next.
Digital Brunei 2030 will be realised through the delivery of national projects through 2030 including the Gov.BN SuperApp and Citizen Portal, the National Business Services Portal, the continued rollout of BruneiID and Digital Payments, the development of AI-Capable Data Centre, the implementation of a National Sovereign Cloud with AI compute capabilities, and a Brunei-context National Large Language Model.
The Co-Chairs of the Digital Brunei Council, Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Finance and Economy II Datuk Seri Setia Dr Mohd Amin Liew Abdullah and Minister of Transport and Infocommunications Pengiran Datuk Seri Setia Shamhary Pengiran Datuk Paduka Mustapha, underscored that this next phase is about outcomes, not infrastructure alone.
Digital transformation under the new masterplan must contribute towards higher productivity, lower transaction costs, improved service quality and a more conducive environment for enterprise and investment, and at the same time supporting fiscal sustainability through interoperability and disciplined investment in shared digital foundations.
Meaningful transformation, they have emphasised, requires more than technology as it demands strong governance, capable institutions and sustained commitment to execution in close partnership with industry and the public.
The Digital Brunei Council, renamed from the Digital Economy Council in August 2024 by His Majesty, will oversee implementation of the Digital Brunei 2030 in coordination with government agencies, industry players and delivery partners, which will begin with Digital Brunei 2030 dialogue scheduled to be held tomorrow.
For more information on Digital Brunei 2030 and to access the complete masterplan document, members of the public can visit www.digitalbrunei.bn. - Borneo Bulletin/ANN
