April 10 (Reuters) - Wireless tower operator Crown Castle 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 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 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, which rents out towers to wireless carriers such as Verizon and AT&T, rose 1.1% after markets closed. (Reporting by Priyanka.G in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)