Ofcom claims that almost 90 per cent of UK households now have the equipment to receive digital TV.

Since the Freeview service launched in 2002, more than 23 million set-top boxes and nearly 20 million TVs with an integrated digital receiver have been sold.

The Digital Progress Report for the first quarter of 2009 found that 18 million households, or 89.6 per cent of the population, have a digital TV receiver.

Digital recorders are also taking off, with the total number of digital video recorders sold reaching almost nine million.

Ofcom found that five million of those were Sky+ boxes, a further 2.6 million were Freeview recorders, and the remaining 1.2 million were split between Virgin Media, BT Vision and Top Up TV.

Nearly two million (1.9 million) households in the UK also have access to high-definition (HD) channels.

Ofcom also said it had seen a drop of nearly a third in the sales of Freeview set-top boxes, as TVs with a built-in digital tuner start to take over from the standalone devices.

Sales of TVs with an integrated tuner have now hit 20 million.

According to Ofcom the increase in digital TV means that the majority of homes in the UK are well-placed for the switch-off of the analogue television signal in 2012.

Several areas of the country have already had their analogue service turned off and are now digital-only, including the Isle of Man, the West Country and the Scottish border region.