The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) renewed its commitment to intensifying reforms under the present administration as the government of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. pushed for digitalization and technological innovation.

ARTA Secretary Ernesto Perez said this after PLDT Incorporated secured an additional 68,000 fixed and wireless permits in Cavite, Batangas, Laguna, and Palawan alone, allowing its network rollout and hastening their service delivery.

In a statement on November 28, Perez said this accomplishment was a welcome development.

"ARTA welcomes this huge accomplishment of PDLT and Smart Inc.," he said.

"When we started the streamlining reforms in the telco sector in 2020, ARTA was optimistic that we would be seeing its effects in the next two years, and this is indeed part of it," he added.

The ARTA chief expressed that the Authority is even more determined to push for intensified reforms under PBBM's administration.

"We have been meeting with our stakeholders from the telco sector to pinpoint the bottlenecks and areas of improvement. In fact, the solutions for concerns gathered during our numerous consultations will be featured in our upcoming Telco Summit 2022," he said.

The Authority is set to hold its Telco Sector Forum on December 6. Stakeholders in public and private sectors will attend it.

The number of passed permits from October to November 2022 has exceeded the total 68,711 permits secured by three major telco companies last year. PLDT has credited this to the ARTA, the National Telecommunications Company (NTC), and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) for streamlining the government's permitting process for the telecommunications sector.

Vice President and Head of Regulatory Affairs Roy Ibay said PLDT welcomes all opportunities to partner with the government to realize its digitalization goals by enhancing the country's digital infrastructure.

"We will continue working with ARTA and other government agencies who have helped fast-track the permitting process in further ramping up the rollout of PLDT's fiber infrastructure and Smart's cell sites nationwide," he said.

ARTA previously led the drafting of three Joint Memorandum Circulars (JMCs) that aimed to streamline the processes and requirements in setting up telecommunications towers and poles.

The Revised JMC No. 1, s. 2021 paved the way for decreasing the number of needed permits from 13 to 8, documentary requirements from 86 to 35, and processing time from 241 days to 16 days. It also reduced the required permits from 11 to 5 and documentary requirements from 62 to 26.