This comes after 50 other small-cell sites with 4G capability became operational earlier in the year. A further 10 are expected to be activated before the end of June, 2017.

Helena Painting, one of the organising team members at the Bookham Community Church, welcomed the news for the village of about 160 people.

“It’s fabulous. If it’s going to improve the communications for the better, it’d be good for the people,” she said.

“There are quite a few people at the church hall who use their phones, so this move will mean a network that’s a lot better for the Bookham community,” she said.

Telstra Group Managing Director, Networks, Mike Wright said rolling out 4G voice services on small cells was part of Telstra’s commitment to expanding its 4G coverage in regional Australia.

“This technology highlights the ongoing investments we are making in our mobile network for our rural customers,” Mr Wright said.

“We know how important mobile voice calling is for local communities and businesses and we are proud to be the first carrier in Australia to provide voice calling via 4G only small cells.”

A small cell is a miniature version of a standard base station and is traditionally used to boost coverage and capacity in densely populated urban areas.

In 2014, Telstra reworked the technology to launch small cells for 4G data and internet services in small regional and rural communities where a full-sized base station would not be feasible.

As part of its support of the Federal Government’s Mobile Black Spots program, Telstra has committed to funding up to 250 small cells during the overall program.

Telstra is funding the small cells roll-out. This is in addition to the 577 mobile base stations Telstra is building under Rounds 1 and 2 of the program.

Customers are reminded that to use the services they must have a VoLTE enabled device. As of mid-2016, all new 4G smartphones launched to Telstra consumer mobile customers have been VoLTE ready.

This is expected to be a core feature for all upcoming post-paid models. New pre-paid models will be progressively supported over time.