Its quarterly report, entitled Communications Market: Digital Television Progress Report, the regulator found that 48.5 per cent of the UK's 60 million TV sets were connected to a digital device by the end of 2006, compared to a figure of 44.7 per cent in the previous quarter.

In the run up to Christmas, another one million homes went out and bought either a digital telly or digibox for the first time. Sales of terrestrial devices reached a high with 2.4 million, including a record number of TV sets with integrated digital tuners. The figures are 24 per cent up on Quarter 4 in 2005.

Ofcom used to highlight the number of digital-enabled households (i.e. any house with a digibox, be it Sky, Freeview, etc), but critics said this didn't give a true reflection of of the analogue switch-off and what its effects will be.  This figure was 77.2 per cent, up 3.9 per cent on the previous quarter.

The regulator estimates there are 815,000 homes that receive free-to-air satellite. These households typically comprises of lapsed Sky subscribers and those who have signed up to Sky's Freesat service for a one-off payment.

In the US, the government is offering households two $40 vouchers to go towards buying a digibox or digital TV.

While the outlook is good for standard definition television. A consortium of broadcasters and vendors are calling on Ofcom to make sure that terrestrial viewers will be able to receive high definition television in the future.

The group, HDforall, wants the regulator to ring-fenced frequencies once analogue is switched off and used them to transmit  HDTV.

"If the auction takes place as planned the millions of consumers who have purchased, or plan to purchase HD TVs may never be able enjoy high-definition TV on the Freeview platform," said the pressure group.