As of this morning, the United Kingdom has finished its transition from analog television to digital, finally bringing a five-year transition to an end.
As reported by The Guardian, the transition cost £1 billion, including a £630m bill for converting more than 1,000 transmitters across the UK from analogue to digital. 76 years of analog TV came to an end in Northern Ireland, which was the location of the final shut down of regular television broadcasts. Analog broadcasts began back on November 2nd, 1936 with a BBC broadcast from north London. Digital UK, the body responsible for coordinating the switchover and information campaign that accompanied it, said it had delivered on time and under budget.
The United States completed a similar transition to digital television broadcasts in 2011.
The 800 MHz spectrum that had been used for analog television in the country will be repurposed for 4G LTE wireless broadband according to a report from The Inquirer. Auctions for the spectrum will begin sometime before the end of the 2012, but the UK will likely have to wait until 2014 to see 4G LTE rollout on the newly-freed spectrum.
Truphone has not stated when they would be supporting 4G LTE connectivity with their GSM SIM, but we do know they do plan to support the wireless broadband technology. We would imagine — especially with UK carrier Everything Everywhere launching 4G LTE next week — that this functionality may come sooner rather than later.