NII Holdings this week announced the appointment of a new leader for its Nextel Brazil business, in the shape of former Oi chief executive Francisco Valim.
Valim officially took on the role of president of the Brazilian mobile operator on Tuesday.
He replaces Gokul Hemmady, who also served as chief operating officer of NII Holdings.
"Francisco is a proven leader with significant expertise in the wireless telecommunications sector in Brazil and in business transformation and optimisation of organisational processes, having successfully served as chief executive officer of several large telecommunication and media companies in Brazil," said Steve Shindler, CEO of NII Holdings.
Indeed, Valim served as CEO of Brazil’s fourth largest mobile operator Oi for 18 months up until early 2013, having been the telco’s chief financial officer earlier in his career. He was also chief executive of cable TV operator NET Serviços for five years.
After leaving Oi, Valim spent nine months at the helm of Brazilian retailer Via Varejo. He subsequently became a founding partner o f investor group Bambuza Capital.
"We are confident that Francisco is the right person to lead Nextel Brazil as we strive to build our subscriber base and increase revenues while continuing to reduce our costs," Shindler said.
Nextel is Brazil’s fifth largest mobile operator, but with 2.13 million customers and a market share of just 0.76% at the end of July, according to figures published by Anatel earlier this week, it is no match for its bigger rivals.
Oi had 50.05 million customers at the same date, while Telefonica-owned Vivo remains the biggest player in the market with a 29.21% share and 82.2 million customers.
