Sprint names Marcelo Claure new CEO

Sprint confirmed Wednesday Marcelo Claure will take over as president and CEO of the third largest wireless carrier in the U.S.

Claure, 43, had served as founder and CEO of Brightstar Corp., a wireless distributor based in Miami and subsidiary of Sprint parent company Softbank. Claure will assume the Sprint CEO role on August 11.

"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 in a statement.

Shares of Sprint were down nearly 17% in morning trading.

The executive shift follows reports that Sprint planned on calling off its merger with T-Mobile, the fourth largest wireless carrier in the U.S., because of challenging regulatory hurdles.

Both companies had been working on a potential merger valued as high as $50 billion. Last week, French telecom Iliad confirmed it made a bid to scoop up T-Mobile for $15 billion.

In a statement, Claure said he will focus immediately on "competing aggressively" in the marketplace. "While consolidating makes sense in the long-term, for now, we will focus on growing and repositioning Sprint."

Claure will replace Dan Hesse, who had served as Sprint CEO since 2007. During his tenure, he navigated the wireless carrier's merger with Softbank, completed last year, and shut down the Nextel network, which Sprint acquired in 2004.

Although Sprint is the third largest U.S. carrier, the company has struggled to capture the attention of mobile consumers. AT&T and Verizon dominate much of the U.S. mobile market, while T-Mobile has generated buzz over its "Uncarrier" strategy that moves away from traditional mobile contracts.

Gartner analyst Bill Menezes says the executive shift signals Sprint is seeking a change in how it approaches a consumer strategy. "Having almost completed the bulk of their network upgrade, they need to focus on their brand and value proposition."

Son, who also serves as Softbank chairman and CEO, likely pushed for the executive change to speed up a turnaround at Sprint, says Edward Jones analyst Dave Heger, adding Claure's background in the cellular business should help.

"He's from the phone distribution side, so he probably has a lot of experience in customer service," says Heger. "That could carry over well to Sprint, where the company has struggled with a poor service reputation."

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.