Second digital TV switchover could be called for to satisfy mobile broadband boom
The move from analogue to digital television may still be fresh in many people's minds, but Britain could be facing a second 'digital switchover' to satisfy the increasing mobile internet demand.
As the Sunday Times reports, Freeview television and radio services are delivered to more than 20m homes over a coveted part of the airwaves 'considered ideal for mobile broadband'.
Freeing this spectrum for mobile companies could raise billions of pounds for the treasury but cause "havoc" for millions of consumers, the paper reports.
According to an Ofcom report published last year, as many as 30 per cent of households may have to install a new aerial to continue to receive all Freeview channels if the plans went ahead.
The regulator has now played down the disruption, however. A spokesperson told The Sunday Times the proposals were only at the consultation stage and the "vast majority of viewers" affected would requite only a retune of existing equipment.