As of June 2026, Telecommunications Line Installers and Repairers has an AI-exposure score of 43/100 (Moderate exposure) on the AI-Safe Careers index, blending O*NET tasks, the Anthropic Economic Index, the Penn/OpenAI study, and BLS data. This is an estimate of task exposure, not a prediction of job loss.
Telecommunications Line Installers and Repairers
More exposed than 16% of the roles we track. Median pay ~US$74,330. About 8,900 projected openings a year (BLS 2024–34 — growth plus replacement).
Pay & demand figures are US medians (BLS, in USD) — your local figures will differ. Your exposure score applies broadly.
How you compare to similar Installation & Repair roles
Your tasks, by AI exposure
No automatable tasks identified for this role — its real, individually-assessed tasks consistently read as augmentable (79%).
- Access specific areas to string lines, or install terminal boxes, auxiliary equipment, or appliances, using bucket trucks, climbing poles or ladders, or entering tunnels, trenches, or crawl spaces.
- Explain cable service to subscribers after installation, and collect any installation fees due.
- Inspect or test lines or cables, recording and analyzing test results, to assess transmission characteristics and locate faults or malfunctions.
- Measure signal strength at utility poles, using electronic test equipment.
- Clean or maintain tools or test equipment.
- Set up service for customers, installing, connecting, testing, or adjusting equipment.
- Install equipment such as amplifiers or repeaters to maintain the strength of communications transmissions.
- Splice cables, using hand tools, epoxy, or mechanical equipment.
- Travel to customers' premises to install, maintain, or repair audio and visual electronic reception equipment or accessories.
- Use a variety of construction equipment to complete installations, such as digger derricks, trenchers, or cable plows.
- Compute impedance of wires from poles to houses to determine additional resistance needed for reducing signals to desired levels.
- Pull cable through ducts by hand or with winches.
- Lay underground cable directly in trenches, or string it through conduits running through trenches.
- Pull up cable by hand from large reels mounted on trucks.
- String cables between structures and lines from poles, towers, or trenches, and pull lines to proper tension.
- Dig holes for power poles, using power augers or shovels, set poles in place with cranes, and hoist poles upright, using winches.
- Fill and tamp holes, using cement, earth, and tamping devices.
- Dig trenches for underground wires or cables.
- Place insulation over conductors, or seal splices with moisture-proof covering.
Safer adjacent roles
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