KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 15 — The government will unveil MSC 2.0 with a new branding and further improvements to address the digital divide, meet current challenges and constraints, and enhance Malaysia’s value proposition to attract more digital investment nationwide.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said this effort is in line with the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP), Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDIGITAL), and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

He said the decision was made at the fourth meeting of the National Digital Economy and Fourth National Industrial Revolution (4IR) Council, which was chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, today.

"For 25 years, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) through the MSC Malaysia initiative, has succeeded to increase the contribution of the digital economy from zero per cent to more than 20 per cent to gross domestic product by 2021,” he said in a statement today.

Mustapa said as at December 31, 2020, MSC Malaysia had helped the country raise investments of more than RM384 billion and revenue of RM588 billion.

He said the country has grown into a global digital economic power, having been ranked among the top three of the Kearney Global Services Location Index since 2004 through this initiative.

"Hence, efforts to digitise the people’s economy and popularise the digital economy will continue,” he said.

Besides, he said the government was satisfied with the implementation of the National Digital Network Plan (Jendela) through the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) with a total of 6.427 million premises covered with fibre optic, average mobile broadband speed increased to 31.34 Mbps, and 4G coverage increased to 94.03 per cent in populated areas until the third quarter of 2021.

"The 5G network throughout Malaysia will be implemented aggressively to achieve the target of 80 per cent coverage in populated areas by 2024 to ensure the country is back on par with neighbouring countries in the near term,” he said.

To encourage the adaptation of digital technology by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), he said the MyDIGITAL Corporation would be organising the National MSME Digitisation Empowerment Programme 2021 from November 21 to 23.

He said the programme will be held in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia, Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives, Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti), MDEC, MCMC, and other relevant government agencies and private entities.

"The prime minister will be launching the programme which will be held in Bera, Pahang. The programme aims at sharing information on the stimulus or support packages provided by the federal and state governments, the private sector, as well as to share the experiences of entrepreneurs who have achieved success from the various assistance,” he said.

On today’s meeting, Mustapa said it was decided that the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, through early stage start-up influencer Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd, would coordinate and monitor the implementation of the Malaysia Startup Ecosystem Roadmap (Super) 2021-2030 through the MYStartup platform in an effort to place Malaysia in the top 20 of the global startup ecosystem by 2030.

He said it was also decided that the achievements of the MyDIGITAL initiative be used as a key performance indicator (KPI) for ministers and department heads, in line with the importance of the digital economy. — Bernama