The chief executive of European telecom giant Altice this week was named the next president and CFO of U.S. wireless carrier Sprint.
Michel Combes will assume his new position effective Jan. 6. Sprint officials touted Combes as a “turnaround strategist” who helped guide debt-ridden France Telecom and a nearly bankrupt Alcatel-Lucent prior to joining Altice. He also served as CEO of Vodafone Europe, French media company SFR Group and French radio and TV tower company TDF.
“Michel is an extremely capable and accomplished global telecom and cable industry leader and I know bringing him on board will help to accelerate our progress as Sprint begins the next chapter of our transformation,” CEO Marcelo Claure said in a statement.
Current Sprint CFO Tarek Robbiati will leave the company at the end of the month following a transition period. He is the second executive to leave the company after merger talks with rival carrier T-Mobile broke down in November.
