Mário César Araújo took over from Marco de Lissicich as CEO of TIM Brazil on Monday, February 3. Until recently he headed Tele Centro Oeste Celular (TCO), which is being acquired by the Portugal Telecom/Telefonica joint venture. Mr de Lissicich had been in the job for six months. TCO Director of Operations Sérgio Assenço has been promoted to take Mr Araújo?s place. Seasoned observers say the joint venture is concerned that Mr Araújo?s departure from TCO signals the start of executive flight, possibly to Brasil Telecom as well as TIM Brazil. Both groups are trying to poach experienced managers for wireless operations, the sources believe. BrT is an ILEC but is about to launch its PCS service.
Most of TCO?s employees worked for the company when the cellular operation was a department of the state-owned telcos privatized to BrT. Another key point is the expertise acquired by TCO executives, who are deeply familiar with the local and regional markets to be covered by TIM as it extends its GSM service into the Center-West region, and by BrT?s wireless arm, which is so new that it hasn?t even set up a full management team yet.
