July 30 (Reuters) -

Real estate investment trust American Tower ( AMT ) raised

its forecast for annual adjusted funds from operations (AFFO)

and beat second-quarter revenue estimates on Tuesday, helped by

strong demand for its leasing business.

Demand for land leases has surged as telecom carriers

continue to expand their 5G and mobile network infrastructure to

meet mounting customer needs.

AFFO, a key measure of cash flow, rose more than 13% for

American Tower ( AMT ) to $2.79 per share in the second quarter, helped

by strong growth in its U.S. and Canada segment as well as in

India.

Analysts had estimated an AFFO of $2.53, per LSEG data.

Shares of the Boston, Massachusetts-based company rose about

2.3% in premarket trading.

American Tower ( AMT ), which counts top telecoms such as T-Mobile

, AT&T ( T ) and Verizon among its customers,

reported total revenue of $2.90 billion, above LSEG expectations

of $2.82 billion.

Its property revenue rose 4.6% to $2.85 billion.

American Tower ( AMT ) raised its full-year AFFO forecast to a range

of $10.48 to $10.72 per share from its prior view of $10.30 to

$10.53.

It also lifted its net income forecast to $3.20 billion

to $3.29 billion from $3.07 billion to $3.16 billion previously.