By Kimberly Chin

Crown Castle International Corp. reported lower profit in the first quarter, but sales rose as the company saw strong demand for 5G leasing.

The cell tower operator said net profit fell to $121 million from $185 million in the year-earlier quarter. Per-share earnings were 28 cents, down from 38 cents last year.

Net revenue rose to $1.49 billion from $1.42 billion a year earlier.

Funds from operations was $1.20 a share, compared with $1.31 a share a year ago. On an adjusted basis, FFO was $1.71 a share, up from $1.42 a share a year earlier. Analysts on average were looking for reported FFO of $1.43 a share and adjusted FFO of $1.63 a share.

"We are excited to continue to support our customers' wireless infrastructure needs as they deploy nationwide 5G in the U.S., and we expect to once again generate industry leading domestic tower revenue growth in 2021," Chief Executive Officer Jay Brown said in prepared remarks.

Write to Kimberly Chin at kimberly.chin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-21-21 1643ET