Bharti Infratel, which runs telecom towers across India, saw 7 per cent jump in March quarter profits thanks to enhanced focus on improving the quality of networks by its clients.

The company’s bottomline was also helped by increase in other income, reduction in tax bill and rent expenses. The board of the company increased the deadline of its merger with Indus Towers to June 24. Here are key highlights from March quarter numbers: Nos of towers growThe company said thanks to the tariff increase by the telecom operators and encouraging trends on overall wireless data consumption, Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers witnessed an increase in gross additions both on towers and co-locations on a year-on-year basis. The company added 1,128 towers and 431 co-locations during the last quarter.

It now operates 95,372 towers and 1,74,581 co-locations. “We believe this is a harbinger of the future especially as witnessed in the current environment of the Covid-19 crisis, where the nation’s dependence on wireless networks has been further elevated,” said Akhil Gupta, Chairman, Bharti Infratel. Cash flow drops 27%The company's free operating cash flow depleted by one fourth in the March quarter compared to the corresponding quarter last year.

The metric, which signifies the financial strength of the company, stood at Rs 847 crore in the quarter under consideration.

Similarly, adjusted fund from operations dropped 9 pet cent to Rs 1,310 crore. Indus Tower merger deadline extendedThe long stop date for merger with Indus Towers that was supposed to end on April 24 has been extended to June 24.

The company said the Board of Directors took note of the status of merger between Indus and Bharti Infratel and further extended the deadline. Pays dividend @Rs 4.1 per shareThe company has declared the third interim dividend of Rs.

4.10 per equity share.

It has fixed Wednesday, May 6, 2020, as the ‘Record Date’ for the purpose of ascertaining the eligibility of shareholders for the payment of the dividend. This along with the two interim dividends of Rs 3.65 and Rs 2.75 announced earlier, would result in a total dividend of Rs.10.5 per equity share for the last fiscal. Other income doublesThe company reported twofold increase in income from other sources to Rs 38.6 crore from Rs 18.6 crore in the same quarter last year.

This helped the company post a Rs 26 crore increase in net income to Rs 1,720.7 crore. Rent expenses come down to zeroThe company’s rent expenses came down to nil from Rs 87.5 crore in March 2019 quarter.

The company also reported a reduction in power bill by Rs 22.6 crore.

However, other expenses grew from Rs 28.4 crore to Rs 80.6 crore. Income tax bill halvesThe company paid net Rs 135 crore in income taxes this quarter, nearly half of Rs 257.2 crore paid in the corresponding quarter last year, thanks to the new rate of corporate taxes announced by the government last year. No major impact of lockdownSince the telecom services have been deemed essential, the industry is among the businesses that are least impacted due to Covid-19. “The Group believes that thus far, there is no significant impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the financial position and performance of the Group.

Further, the Group is not expecting any significant changes in estimates as of now as the company is running its business and operations as usual without any major disruptions,” Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

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