But ever slowly, the gap is closing.

Carroll will soon have access to one of the first Optus 4G phone towers in the region, beating bigger centres like Gunnedah to the mark. 

The installation at Carroll which includes antennas, a radio communications dish and equipment shelter will be co-located on the existing Telstra tower near the Oxley Highway. A vodafone tower also exists in the area.

“Telstra has the leading coverage, Optus is trying to match that in their regional network,” said town planner Adrian Dube from Daly International, a Sydney-based company helping to facilitate the new infrastructure.

An “indicative” timeline has forecast completion of the project by March next year but nothing has been confirmed.

Carroll resident Zoe Baker is with a different provider but aware of a number of Optus black spots around town. She said the Carroll primary school is a particular troublesome area for coverage.

“I know in some areas they have to stand in one spot just to make calls,” she said.

Mr Dube said Optus’ 4G roll-out was also earmarked to expand in Gunnedah, which is currently serviced by 3G.

“They’re looking at a couple of options in Gunnedah,” he said.

On Tuesday, the telecommunications provider advertised it would be upgrading the base station on Porcupine Hill.

The Gunnedah district has been plagued by poor mobile coverage in recent months. In February it was Telstra which felt the wrath of disgruntled mobile customers when Mullaley’s coverage was called into question. Residents threatened to break contracts and withhold account payments until the service outages were rectified. The outage problems were later resolved.

Carroll too has faced its fair share of infrastructure issues this year, notably a lack of water supply after the town’s bores ran dry.

Affected residents met with Gunnedah council in April in an attempt to resolve the issue.