April 10 (Reuters) - Wireless tower operator Crown

Castle ( CCI ) has named Steven Moskowitz as its chief

executive, effective April 11.

Moskowitz, previously CEO of Centennial Towers Holding and

NextG Network, had also held executive roles at American Tower

Corp ( AMT ) for over 12 years.

Moskowitz succeeds Anthony Melone, who served as an interim

CEO and will be a special adviser to him until May 31. Melone

will remain on the board thereafter.

Crown Castle ( CCI ) is under pressure from co-founder Ted Miller,

who has been pushing the company to appoint him as executive

chairman and three of his partners as board directors.

Miller, together with co-investors, has a stake worth more

than $100 million in the company, and has said his team was best

positioned to find buyers for the fiber business.

The Houston-based company had said in December it would

explore sale of its fiber business after reaching a deal with

hedge fund Elliott Investment Management over shaking up its

board.

Shares of Crown Castle ( CCI ), which rents out towers to wireless

carriers such as Verizon and AT&T ( T ), rose 1.1% after

markets closed.