Sprint today announced that it has appointed Marcelo Claure as the company’s next President and Chief Executive Officer. Claure takes over from Dan Hesse, who has been CEO since 2007, on August 11, 2014.
“Marcelo is a successful entrepreneur who transformed a start-up into a global telecommunications company. He has the management experience, passion and drive to create the strongest network and offer the best products and services in the wireless industry,” said Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son. “While we continue to believe industry consolidation will enhance competitiveness and benefit customers, our focus moving forward will be on making Sprint the most successful carrier.”
Claure is not a stranger to Japan’s SoftBank, Sprint’s parent company. He founded Brightstar Corp, a mobile phone distributor that was acquired by SoftBank Corp last year. Founded in 2007, it had revenues of US$10.5 billion last year.
The announcement comes as Sprint decided to drop its bid to acquire competitor T-Mobile USA as “regulatory resistance showed no signs of softening despite months of lobbying.” Sprint left the door open to the companies merging at some point later in the future. “We didn’t think the opposition would be this strong,” a SoftBank executive told Reuters, adding: “The environment will definitely change”.
For now at least, Claure will focus on the expansion of Sprint’s network and making the carrier more competitive against other U.S. carriers.
Sources : Sprint Wireless // Reuters