I was looking for the reason for the decommissioning but it wasn't specified in the article. Yeah, the service fee is probably the main reason but I still want to know is how many of the decommissioned ATMs were providing two-way service (allowing the buy and sell of BTC). I think they are more useful for cashing out in case a Bitcoiner desperately needs some cold cash.
Strategic location could be one. Maybe the closed BTMs (Bitcoin ATMs) were located in places where foot traffic isn't that good.
I don't think it's all about strategic location, bitcoins ATMs comes with some really high fees to transact on it, whether you want to buy or sell bitcoin, you will have to pay a hefty charge, and looking at such fees, p2p becomes a better option for traders who wish to cash in on some of their bitcoin, so instead of having to pay high fees to bitcoin ATMs just to cash in a few dollars in bitcoin, it's become much more better to do that through p2p.
And also consider that p2p of today is no longer as it used to be in the old days, alot of have changed, with several high standard centralized exchanges offering p2p market to their users, transacting in p2p have become alot more easier and safer than it used to be.
So, for me, I think the reason for the decline in the number of functioning bitcoin ATMs around the world, is due to the fact that they have lost alot of users, people now prefer p2p instead of ATMs, so, I do not think it's about strategic positioning or whatever related to that.