I am not a specialist in GSM networking, but I went looking at the relevant standards documents to see whether I could answer your question. It appears that th

I am not a specialist in GSM networking, but I went looking at the relevant standards documents to see whether I could answer your question. It appears that the handset can request information from the SIM about frequency bands. For example, see section 10.3.38 of 3gpp specification #11.11 "Specification of the Subscriber Identity Module - Mobile Equipment (SIM - ME) interface", which discusses EF_CPBCCH: "CPBCCH storage may reduce the extent of a Mobile Station's search of CPBCCH carriers when selecting a cell" https://portal.3gpp.org/desktopmodules/Specifications/SpecificationDetails.aspx?specificationId=419 https://portal.3gpp.org/desktopmodules/Specifications/Specif... [click 'versions' and then the link '8.14.0' to get a zip of a doc file that renders like hell in libreoffice 5 on debian stretch] However, after that I lose myself in random standards document and can't give a clearer or more authoritative answer.