Malaysia to get 5G in stages by year-end, says PM

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will start to get 5G Internet connectivity by the end of this year, says Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (pic).

The Prime Minister said that this will be in stages and with this, Malaysia will emerge as one of the first countries in this region to build a 5G ecosystem using Internet and cloud services in real-time to enable instant sharing of information.

"Just imagine - this 5G technology will serve as a game-changer as more smart services with direct impact will be made available for the well-being of the people.

"This 5G technology not only promises better and faster Internet access, but more importantly, it also enables various important applications to be in the hands of end-users, including health monitoring applications for chronic patients, smart emergency assistance, and special applications for senior citizens who are living alone," he said during the launch of the MyDigital & the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint on Friday (Feb 19).

Muhyiddin said a total of RM15bil will be invested over a period of 10 years for the implementation of 5G nationwide.

He said this would create approximately a total of 105,000 job opportunities, with the effort to be carried out by a special purpose vehicle under the Malaysian government.

"This entity will then be given the appropriate spectrum to own, implement and manage the 5G infrastructure," he said.

Muhyiddin also said that all licenced telecommunication companies will have equal access to this infrastructure, in marketing their 5G services to their customers.

"This infrastructure cost-sharing enables telecommunication companies to generate higher returns and, in turn, provide better and cheaper 5G services to consumers.

"This situation will boost the use of 5G, thus enhance economic capability in triggering more product and service innovations," he said.

Muhyiddin also said that between RM12bil and RM15bil will be invested by Cloud Service Provider (CSP) companies over the next five years.

He said that the government has so far given conditional approvals to four CSP companies - Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Telekom Malaysia - to build and manage hyper-scale data centres and cloud services.

"This hyper-scale data centres, as well as hybrid cloud services, will be created to increase data storage space, thus reducing operating costs and improving analytical efficiency," he said.

He added that the government has also proposed the appointment of three local ICT companies as Manage Service Providers (MSP) to work with CSPs to manage their services to agencies in the public sector.

"This is in line with our intentions to strengthen the capabilities of local companies," said Muhyiddin.

He said that the three companies are Enfrasys Solution Sdn Bhd, Prestariang Systems Sdn Bhd and Cloud Connect Sdn Bhd.

Muhyiddin also said that the government, through its Cloud First strategy, has targeted the migration of 80% of public data to hybrid cloud systems by the end of 2022.

He said the strategy would help to reduce government costs in information technology management in the long run.

"All these Cloud services will allow Big Data, AI, IoT and other applications to be utilized to enhance and strengthen government services," he said.