Georgian fixed line operator United Telecom of Georgia plans to launch an IPTV service in the capital Tbilisi on 15 October in partnership with NOVUS Group, local news source The Financial reports. United Telecom plans to invest a further USD2 million-USD3 million in the development of the service, on top of an original investment of USD1.5 million. Pilot tests have been carried out over the past six months with around 100 United Telecom subscribers and the service is expected to be expanded nationwide in the first quarter of 2010. ‘We began preparing for this interactive television project a year ago. Modernisation of the network has been implemented, a new infrastructure of totally novel technologies has been created, similar to IPTV,’ said Nika Chiaureli, head of internet and IPTV at United Telecom, adding that NOVUS provided the technical and maintenance services for the project. Packages are priced between USD15 and USD35, with customers able to subscribe to a triple-play ‘United’ package bundling the telco’s telephony, broadband internet and television services.