Mildura turns on, tunes in and becomes Australia's first digital district

The analog network was switched off at 9am. The rest of the country will follow in stages up to 2013.

The Minister for Communications, Stephen Conroy, said the switch was the biggest milestone in television history since colour arrived in the 1970s.

Senator Conroy said the analog spectrum would be put on the market in the next 18 months and is expected to bring in billions for the federal government, as big telcos such as Telstra, Optus and Vodafone bid for the spectrum space.

''We're not going to reveal our reserve price before the auction but taxpayers will benefit significantly,'' he said.

Mobile phones and notebooks require an ever-increasing amount of bandwidth as internet applications proliferate, he said. ''Worldwide, there is scarcity of spectrum and we'll be at the leading edge of the world in the amount of spectrum available.''

The switch-over to digital was not entirely problem-free. To overcome reception black spots, three transmitters had to be installed in the towns of Underbool, Ouyen and Robinvale.

Senator Conroy said any areas out of range of the transmitters would be served by satellites.

More than 2500 households in Mildura have switched to digital television. The federal government spent $13.6 million over 18 months on an education campaign, assistance packages for eligible households and community liaison officers.

About 250 households have not converted to digital. The executive director of the Digital Switchover Taskforce, Andy Townend, expected those households to convert in the next few weeks while the government assistance package was still available.

Garry Briant, from Ferguson Electronics in Mildura, was fielding calls from confused locals having trouble operating their set-top boxes. He said many businesses were also realising too late they had not fully upgraded.

Nationally, about 68 per cent of households have upgraded to a digital signal, either through a set-top box or a new TV.