THE Communications and Multimedia Ministry and Finance Ministry (MOF) will table a cabinet ministers’ memorandum next month to resolve the issues relating to Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) “once and for all”, said Communications and Multimedia Minister Annuar Musa.

He said the position of DNB and the Single Wholesale Network or Dual Wholesale Network system, which has become a debate and a polemic, should be resolved soon, following findings during the National Digital Economy and Fourth Industrial Revolution Council (MED4IRN) meeting yesterday.

“If we allow it to prolong, it will affect the 5G roll-out programme, which is a key factor to Malaysia’s Digital Economy Framework of Action and the implementation of MyDigital,” he told the media after attending an appreciation ceremony of volunteers of Operasi Bantu Hingga Selesai (Bahis) in Putrajaya today.

Annuar said Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob had ordered the two ministries to submit a cabinet ministers’ memorandum to finalise the concept and “way forward” on the implementation of 5G broadband.

“It has been completed and yesterday both ministries sat down together and finalised the draft memorandum, which will be distributed to several related ministries to obtain their views,” said Annuar, adding the memorandum is targeted to be tabled in the first week of March.

Annuar said the prime minister had ordered that every agency and cluster report to MED4IRN every three months, including the cluster chaired by him, which is the Digital and Data Infrastructure Cluster.

“This means our country is putting the highest priority on the digital economy and 4IR (Fourth Industrial Revolution) agenda as well as the implementation of MyDigital,” he said.

According to him, several proposal papers had been tabled at MED4IRN yesterday, among them related to creating iconic projects as the drive in the implementation of the digital economy programme.

In this regard, Annuar said the National Digital Network (Jendela) roll-out now is according to schedule while some are slightly ahead of schedule.

According to him, the total number of premises for the Point of Presence (PoP) programme, with a target of nine million houses, is approaching seven million and is expected to achieve full completion by 2023.

On Ops Bahis by the communication ministry based on the concept of adopted family to assist flood victims, Annuar said about 1,500 ministry volunteers had gone to the ground to clean up 172 houses in Kg Sungai Lui, Bukit Changgang and Taman Sri Muda, and the mission was also to assist in removing about 6,000 tonnes of waste from the three locations.

The victims also received RM1,000 in aid, with RM500 in cash and RM500 in essential goods contributed by non-governmental organisations and strategic partners. – Bernama, February 18, 2022.