Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año said Monday that from 574 last week some 1,171 telco permits have now been approved with only 428 new pending applications.

During a late night briefing with President Duterte Monday, Año commended Manila for the “one time’’ approval of all the applications of the telecommunication companies in the city.

With no pending applications, Año urged all the other LGUs to follow suit to speed-up and improve the country’s communication lines.

Año also noted the automatic rollout of the “telcos’’ in the construction of Passive Telecom Tower Infrastructure (PTTIs) as mandated under the Bayanihan To Act As One 2.

Under the Bayanihan 2 provision, Año explained that except for the building permit and the night clearance permit all other previous required permits were already waived.

Since last month and in the next three years, Año said the application of the telecommunication firms with the said requirements will automatically be approved.

President Duterte in his fifth State-of-the-Nation-Address (SONA) last July 27 warned the telecommunication firms that they will be shut down in December if they do not improve the delivery of their services.

But Globe Telecom president Ernest Cu in a meeting with the President three days after the SONA attributed the lack of cell sites for the poor signals of the communication lines.

In the said meeting, Cu noted a telecom company needs to get 28 to 30 permits for one cell tower with the process taking around eight months.

Año said the DILG, Anti-Red Tape Authority together with other national government agencies (NGAs) have already agreed to streamline the documentary requirements and processing time for building permit applications on shared passive telecommunications tower infrastructure also known as common telecommunications towers.

With the signing of the Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC), Año said this will do away with the resolutions from the homeowners’ associations, city and municipal resolutions and all other processes that delay the acquisition of the permits.