Photo credit: MDEC
In collaboration with the Malaysia Digital Economy
Corporation (MDEC) via its Malaysia
Digital Hub initiative, Axiata Digital, the digital services arm of Axiata
Group Berhad, will extend
the services of its Application Programming Interface (API) platform, to
Malaysian businesses as a gateway into the regional marketplace, across its
footprint countries in ASEAN and South Asia. (Axiata is a major Malaysian telecommunications conglomerate, whose
major
shareholder is the Malaysian Government’s sovereign wealth fund, Khazanah.)
MDEC’s Malaysia Digital Hub provides start-ups and tech
entrepreneurs access to the connections and dynamic workspace required to
achieve rapid growth. This includes facilities such as high-speed broadband and
fibre optic connectivity, funding (both private and government) and
facilitation opportunities and IP (Intellectual Property) Protection. Start-ups
get access to a Founders Network, with founders of over 20 nationalities. It
also offers growth incentives for start-ups, investors, global tech companies,
accelerators, and talent builders to help businesses achieve scale.
In line with MDEC’s catalytic role in driving Malaysia’s
transition towards a developed digital economy by 2020, the collaboration opens
up a secure, fast, and a cost-efficient way for Malaysian-based digital and
online businesses to compete in the high-growth regional digital space.
Launched in August 2015, Axiata Digital’s Mobile Internet
Fulfilment Exchange (MIFE) platform has built a network of global and regional
partners including major marketplaces such as the Apple App Store and Google
Playstore. Through this collaboration, both parties hope to expand the
distribution capabilities for Malaysian businesses to scale up, innovate, and
grow their businesses faster at reduced costs.
Developed in accordance with global API standards and form,
Axiata Digital’s MIFE platform provides businesses a secure access to API
services and solutions. MIFE has also developed the Malaysian Access Gateway
(MAG), a self-service portal for start-up companies to use MIFE’s APIs.
Axiata Digital’s platform allows for faster customer
engagement, and secure payment processes by enabling billing via existing
pre-paid or post-paid accounts, SMS notifications, experience username and
password free user authentication and login.
Customer privacy is becoming increasingly important, and Axiata
Digital and all Axiata companies uphold the highest level of customer data
security and protection. For this reason, the MIFE platform was built as a
plug-and-play interface, wherein companies who want to access API services can
do it via MIFE without connecting to the backend systems and information.
“Malaysia continues to attract interests from start-ups and
entrepreneurs worldwide. Strategically located at the heart of ASEAN, Malaysia
connects businesses to a regional market of more than 625 million people.
Through this collaboration with Axiata Digital, Malaysian digital and online
businesses can offer better consumer experience and better monetisation
opportunities. We believe this will help provide Malaysia’s start-ups
unprecedented access to Axiata’s regional customer base with ease,” said Datuk
Yasmin Mahmood, Chief Executive Officer of MDEC.
“We are excited to partner with MDEC and jointly fast-track
the digital transformation amongst Malaysian businesses. We especially look
forward for Malaysian digital and start-up companies to plug into our API
platform to scale and grow their businesses not only within Malaysia but also
across the other Axiata markets. Furthermore, there are additional features on
MIFE that protects both customers and businesses with the highest level of security,”
commented Chief Executive Officer of Axiata Digital, Mohd Khairil Abdullah.
