Sprint provided its clearest view yet on the company’s attempts to reduce its network expenses by building out monopoles for network coverage, instead of using traditional cell towers. The company also reiterated the price tag for its failed venture: $180 million in abandoned equipment.  

The details of Sprint’s now-discontinued monopole network build-out plan were contained in a lengthy filing the company made this week with the FCC in relation to its attempts to merge with T-Mobile. The filing essentially reiterated many of the issues the company brought up in Juneabout its tenuous position in the marketplace and how it doesn’t believe it will be able to compete against market heavyweights like AT&T and Verizon.  

As for its monopole build-out strategy, Sprint said that in 2015 it embarked on a “monopole plan to save on network costs.” The company didn’t provide any further details on the details of that plan, but it appears to align with a report from Recode in 2016 of a plan by Sprint to cut up to $1 billion in costs via contracts with the likes of Mobilitie and other small cell vendors to relocate its network equipment on “mini macros” located on government land rather than on standard cell towers owned by the likes of American Tower and Crown Castle. The Wall Street Journal, too, reported on Sprint’s plans to deploy up to 70,000 small cells in cities across the country, largely through vendor Mobilitie.