KUALA LUMPUR: The government will further bridge the digital divide between the urban and rural areas through the programmes and projects planned under the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP).
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said differences in the broadband infrastructure contributed to the existing digital divide between the urban and rural areas.
To address this issue, Ismail Sabri said the government will transform all internet centres, rural internet centres and rural community centres into Keluarga Malaysia Digital Centre's.
"The Keluarga Malaysia Digital Centre will provide better and more integrated services.
"The utilisation of the centre will be expanded to provide facility to the local community involved in e-commerce, skills training, education and community activities," he said in tabling the 12MP in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Ismail Sabri also gave an update on the progress of the National Digital Network (Jendela), which aims to provide 100 per cent 4G network in populated areas, 5G network and fibre optics network to more than nine million premises by the 2025.
As of August this year, he said, 94 per cent of populated areas have access to the 4G network.
"The broadband connection speed has reached 29.1 megabits per second (Mbps) and more than six million premises have access to fixed broadband connectivity," he said.
As for the 5G network technology, he said, it was launched early this year.
"Several digitalisation initiatives are expected to support the government's target of achieving 25.5 per cent contribution from the digital economy to the country's Growth Domestic Product (GDP) by the year 2025," he said.
The government, he said, has embarked on the national digitalisation agenda through the digitalisation initiative in the public sector and transformation of the micro-small-and-medium-scale enterprises.
"The preparation of digital infrastructure involves investment from both public and private sector, worth RM28 billion to upgrade the existing 4G network.
"To accelerate the implementation of 5G nationwide, a total RM15 billion will be invested by the private sector," he said.