Marcelo Claure, 43, will take over as president and CEO of Sprint Corporation, the third largest wireless carrier in the U.S., on August 11.

Claure was founder and CEO of Brightstar Corporation, a subsidiary of Sprint's parent company, Softbank Corporation of Japan.

Claure, a Bolivian-American, said he will focus immediately on competing aggressively.

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"While consolidating makes sense in the long-term, for now, we will focus on growing and repositioning Sprint," he said.

Claure will replace Dan Hesse, who served as Sprint CEO since 2007.

Sprint and Softbank Chairman Masayoshi Son believes Claure has the management experience, passion and drive to create the strongest network and offer the best products and services in the wireless industry. Claure's appointment was greeted with dismay by the market.

It follows reports that Sprint intends to call off its merger with T-Mobile, the fourth largest wireless carrier in the U.S., because of tough regulatory requirements.

If it had pushed through, the merger would have created a conglomerate worth US$50 billion.

Softbank's retreat saw French telecom provider Iliad S.A. confirm it made a bid to buy T-Mobile for US$15 billion.

Gartner said the executive shift signals Sprint wants a change in how they approach their consumer strategy.

It noted that having almost completed the bulk of their network upgrade, Sprint needs to focus on their brand and value proposition.

Claure founded Brightstar in Miami in 1997 as a distributor and service provider to the wireless industry with a focus on the Latin American market. 

TagsT-Mobile, Sprint, verizon, Mobile-Maker, Wireless, Phones