(Telecompaper) Monaco Telecom announced the first deployment of LTE-Advanced Category 9 in Europe. The operator is working with Huawei to deploy the technology on its network. Monaco Telecom first launched LTE-A services at the start of this year and currently offers a top speed of 223 Mbps. With the latest upgrade, it will be able to offer speeds up to 450 Mbps. Monaco Telecom is using a total 60MHz for LTE, including 2x20MHz in the 2.6GHz band and 1x20MHz in the 800MHz band. The operator said the continuous upgrade of the network is needed as data traffic is doubling each year, with customers now averaging 1.3 GB per month each. Around half its data traffic already runs over LTE. Customers are expected to be able to take advantage of the faster speeds from next year when Cat 9 terminals become available on the market.