Bharti Infratel on Thursday again extended the deadline for its merger with Indus Towers to June 24.

In a communication to the stock exchanges, the tower infrastructure firm said as the conditions required for the scheme to become effective cannot be completed by April 24, 2020, its board have further extended the date till June 24.

This is subject to an agreement on closing adjustments and other conditions with each party retaining the right to terminate and withdraw the scheme.

It may be recalled that in February this year, the company had extended the deadline for the merger to April 24. It had earlier said that implementation of the transaction would also depend on the Supreme Court judgment on adjusted gross revenues (AGRs).

The merger is expected to create a pan-India tower company with over 163,000 towers operating across all 22 telecom service areas. The combined entity will be the largest tower company in the world outside China.

Vodafone Idea, which is an anchor tenant in Bharti Infratel, has been looking forward to the merger deal to raise money from the sale of its stake in the combined entity, which could be used to pay a portion of its AGR dues.

Indus Towers is a three-way joint venture among Bharti Infratel, UK-based Vodafone Group and Vodafone Idea.

Meanwhile, Bharti Infratel has posted a consolidated profit after tax of Rs 650 crore for the March quarter of 2020.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 608 crore in the same period a year ago. It recorded a consolidated revenue of Rs 3,624 crore during the quarter against Rs 3,600 crore a year ago. The company said it had adopted a new accounting system from April 1, 2019 and, hence, the results are not comparable.