Sprint cellsite decommissioned...what gives?

I went to an area on I-15 today and noticed that Sprint has decommissioned their one panel that used to face south on a Crown Castle tower that used to give coverage up and down I-15 from South Santaquin (Rocky Ridge area) to Mona, Utah.

Service by the tower is now at -104 and there are areas with no coverage along I-15 now from South Santaquin to Mona. Why would Sprint decommission a cell site they desperately needed? There are no new towers going up in this area and there is nowhere else for Sprint to co-locate on to gain coverage back.

FCC ID# 1216124

Just for reference, Verizon Wireless and at&t mobility are on this Crown Castle cell tower and even while Sprint had their one panel up on the tower, there was plenty of room for more carriers to co-locate.

This is an important area with a lot of traffic along I-15 going from Salt Lake City/Provo to Saint George and towards Las Vegas. Sprint now has a rather large area of unreliable service with some no-service spots.

Pictures are attached for your viewing pleasure...this is what the installation used to look like before it was taken down. These pictures were taking at the end of June. In between then and now, the panel was decommissioned.

 

Yup, this panel used to cover a straight shot facing south along I-15, maybe a 5 mile stretch of the interstate until their next tower further south kicked in.

Sprint's panel and entire equipment is gone. There is no NEXTEL towers nearby where Sprint could co-locate on either. iDEN service in this location is nearly non-existent too.

 

I see what you mean, RadioFoneGuy. It would make sense if they were on their license border.

I don't think that this setup, however, has anything to do with their license border. This panel used to face south, their license border is to the north and there actually is a Ubiquitel tower about five miles north of where this panel used to be.

There is no new equipment in place- actually the equipment pad area where Ubiquitel used to have their equipment on is empty.

You would know more about this than I do, but I doubt that Crown Castle Towers would terminate a lease with Sprint on a tower that has plenty of room to go around. At the same time, I don't understand how Sprint would take away their equipment and create a 5 mile dead spot on a busy interstate highway.