Oct 22 (Reuters) - Wireless tower operator Crown Castle ( CCI )

on Wednesday raised its annual site rental revenue

forecast for the second time, helped by steady demand for

wireless infrastructure services.

Crown Castle ( CCI ) derives majority of its revenue from leasing

out tower infrastructure to U.S. wireless carriers such as AT&T ( T )

, T-Mobile US ( TMUS ), and Verizon Communications ( VZ )

on a long-term basis.

With about 40,000 cellular towers across the U.S., Crown

Castle ( CCI ) is looking to focus on growing its tower business, which

is expected to benefit from the largest U.S. carriers upgrading

their networks to 5G and increasing capacity to meet booming

data demand.

The real estate investment trust now sees annual site rental

revenue in the range of $4.01 billion to $4.05 billion, compared

with its earlier projection of between $4 billion and $4.04

billion.

Analysts expect earnings growth of real estate investment

trusts to improve going into 2026, as pressures from supply,

tenant churn, and high development capex ease.

Crown Castle ( CCI ) posted site rental revenue of $1.01 billion for

the third quarter ended September 30, compared with an average

estimate of $1 billion.

Its adjusted funds from operations came in at $1.12 per

share, compared with $1.20 a year earlier.