March 17 (Reuters) - Crown Castle CCI.N appointed telecom veteran Sunit Patel as its new chief financial officer on Monday, following the divestiture of fiber assets last week aimed at operational streamlining amid pressures from an activist investor.

Patel held senior positions earlier at companies such as T-Mobile TMUS.O, where he played a crucial role in integrating the business with Sprint following their $26 billion merger. His appointment at Crown Castle will be effective from April 1.

"He (Patel) is exceptionally well-suited to help lead Crown Castle as we complete our recently announced divestiture and set course as the only pure-play, publicly traded US tower company," said Steven Moskowitz, Crown Castle's chief executive officer.

In January, the company said that its current CFO, Daniel Schlanger, would be stepping down from his role on March 31.

Last year, the company named Steven Moskowitz as its chief executive, succeeding interim CEO Anthony Melone.

(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)

((Zaheer.Kachwala@thomsonreuters.com;))