Which bands to use for a given technology is a strategic standardization direction.

Some of the factors are as follows -

1. Technology evolution path - It was envisioned that in the long term, GSM and
3G customers would be seamlessly migrated to LTE. Hence, it made sense that popular
GSM and 3G spectrum bands would be supported by LTE
2. Device and chipset ecosystem - The devices support certain frequency bands
commercially. Hence, looking at the device shipments and frequency band support,
standardization directions are taken sometimes for higher technologies.
3. Spectrum Harmonization- The wide choice of frequency operating bands
allowed regulators around the world to harmonize and rehash spectrum allocations for
re-use for LTE.
4. RF Planning continuity - Though not a compelling reason, if the bands in use
are similar, RF planning and more importantly physical site planning can be done in
advance. Having said that, RF planning is a tedious and continuing process that has to
be done for all bands where you wish to operate.
5. Antenna Technology availability - As the frequency bands are similar to 2G and
3G, antenna technology availability and maturity is ensured and we do not have to go
through a long maturity curve for an entirely alien band.
Moving forward, for 5G as we speak - there is still a lot of debate and discussion on the
possible operating bands - possibly in the much higher GHz bands which are not in use
today.

Whether this would be the right decision or not - remains to be seen !