News & Reviews:   mof

Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz today revealed that foreign telecommunication companies are ‘queuing up’ for access to Malaysia’s 5G single wholesale network under his ministry’s Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB). However, he said that local established telcos should be given the first bite. 

The Minister of Communications and Multimedia (K-KOMM), Tan Sri Annuar Musa has reassured Malaysians that the government is committed to provide free tablets for B40 students under the PerantiSiswa Keluarga Malaysia initiative. During a press conference in Parliament earlier today, Annuar clarified that the distribution of the tablets will be delayed to August 2022 due to tender issues.

Communications and Multimedia (K-KOMM) Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa has announced a delay to the rollout of free tablets to B40 students under the PerantiSiswa Keluarga Malaysia programme. Initially set to be distributed in mid-June, the timeline is shifted to mid-July instead after the tender for the initial supplier of the devices was cancelled by the Ministry of Finance (MOF).

The Senior Minister of International Trade and Industry, Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali today revealed that the federal government has given approval to Amazon Web Services (AWS) to invest into Malaysia. The company is expected to make major investment to develop data centres within our country this year. 

The Communications and Multimedia Ministry (K-KOMM) together with the Finance Ministry (MOF) and the Higher Education Ministry (KPT) officially launched the PerantiSiswa Keluarga Malaysia programme today at MMU, Cyberjaya. However, application for the programme will only start tomorrow (15 April) via its official online portal here.

During the event, K-KOMM minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa guaranteed that the devices under the programme will be of high quality and not be ‘cap ayam’ (low quality). He also reiterated that the devices will be distributed starting from mid-June, as we’ve reported previously.

The Finance Ministry (MOF) in a statement yesterday announced that around 2 million Malaysian youths will receive an RM150 e-wallet credit starting this mid-April. Part of the government’s ePemula scheme, those that are eligible include youths aged 18 to 20 as well as full-time students in higher learning institutions.

Furthermore, those eligible would get to enjoy the benefit through one of four e-wallet providers, which are BigPay, GrabPay, ShopeePay and Touch ’n Go. MOF said that the four e-wallet service providers have a network of 1.2 million retailers in Malaysia.

It looks like Malaysia won’t be recognising cryptocurrency as legal tender anytime soon as despite the urging to do so by the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia (K-KOMM). Previously, K-KOMM deputy minister called crypto ‘the future of finance’ and urged for the relevant authorities to held discussions in order to legalise it.

However, the proposal was unceremoniously turned down by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) confirmed that the federal government has no intention of recognising crypto as legal tender. This was asserted by the ministry’s first deputy minister, Shahar Abdullah in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.