KUCHING: The Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation (SDEC) plans to upgrade its Sarawak Rural Broadband Network (MySRBN) from 4G to 5G in the near future.
Chief executive officer Datuk Sudarnoto Osman said SDEC was currently in negotiations on the spectrum for 5G.
"Without the spectrum we cannot operate 5G, so this is what we are working on now," he told reporters after attending SDEC's startup innovation showcase at Tegas Digital Village here on Monday (Feb 2).
MySRBN is a state government initiative under SDEC to provide high-speed broadband connectivity to suburban and rural areas in Sarawak as part of efforts to accelerate digital transformation.
Sudarnoto said 44,000 households across Sarawak were now connected to MySRBN.
He said the service provided a basic package using fixed wireless access (FWA) technology, while a fibre plan called MySRBN XL was introduced last year.
"We have about 6,000 households connected to MySRBN fibre," he said.
Separately, Sudarnoto said SDEC expanded its Digital Village Accelerator (Diva) this year to include startups outside Sarawak who plan to establish operations in the state within the next six months.
Previously, only Sarawak-based startups were eligible to apply for Diva.
"This time, in the fourth cohort, we opened applications not only to startups from Sarawak but elsewhere, such as those started by Sarawakians in the peninsula.
"This is an improvement we're making to the Diva programme. We want our startups to be better in terms of quality and products that they can deliver to meet our economic needs," he said.
Sudarnoto said SDEC also recently introduced the Sarawak SaaS Accelerator (Sasar), a new programme focusing on software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers.
"We are working with AWS Malaysia to bring our software service providers to the global stage," he said.
The showcase featured seven selected startups from Diva and 10 from Sasar, who pitched their technology solutions and business models to potential investors, government agencies and corporate partners.
State Deputy Education, Innovation and Talent Development Minister Datuk Dr Annuar Rapaee said Diva and Sasar were not just accelerator programmes but strategic enablers of Sarawak's long-term development agenda.
He said the programmes helped build local innovation capacity, encourage technology adoption and strengthen commercialisation pathways.
"This contributes directly to the Post-Covid Development Strategy 2030's goals of generating higher-value economic activities and creating quality employment opportunities," he said in a speech delivered by the ministry's innovation division head Dr Cheong Yaw Liang.
In addition, Dr Annuar said Sasar's focus on SaaS and scalable digital solutions aligned with the Sarawak Digital Economy Blueprint's objective of positioning the state as a regional hub for digital innovation and enterprise solutions.
Through Sasar, he said, startup founders were equipped to scale their solutions beyond Sarawak and access regional or global markets, while continuing to create value in the state.
"This approach ensures that Sarawak does not merely consume digital technologies but actively creates, owns and exports innovation, strengthening our economic resilience and long-term competitiveness," he added.
