Will AI replace Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers?
AI reaches some of this job’s work, but most of it stays with people.
20/100
Moderate exposure
More exposed to AI than 35% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 4% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 29% of the work
What the job involves
Install, set up, rearrange, or remove switching, distribution, routing, and dialing equipment used in central offices or headends. Service or repair telephone, cable television, Internet, and other communications equipment on customers' property. May install communications equipment or communications wiring in buildings.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Already happening(2)
- Diagnose and correct problems from remote locations, using special switchboards to find the sources of problems.
- Perform database verifications, using computers.
Within reach(12)
- Note differences in wire and cable colors so that work can be performed correctly.
- Maintain computer and manual records pertaining to facilities and equipment.
- Demonstrate equipment to customers and explain its use, responding to any inquiries or complaints.
- Designate cables available for use.
- Determine viability of sites through observation, and discuss site locations and construction requirements with customers.
and 7 more
Out of reach(26)
- Assemble and install communication equipment such as data and telephone communication lines, wiring, switching equipment, wiring frames, power apparatus, computer systems, and networks.
- Collaborate with other workers to locate and correct malfunctions.
- Test circuits and components of malfunctioning telecommunications equipment to isolate sources of malfunctions, using test meters, circuit diagrams, polarity probes, and other hand tools.
- Inspect equipment on a regular basis to ensure proper functioning.
- Run wires between components and to outside cable systems, connecting them to wires from telephone poles or underground cable accesses.
and 21 more
Also called
Broadband Technician (Broadband Tech) · Broadband Tech · Installer · Telecommunications Technician (Telecommunications Tech) · Equipment Installer · PBX Installer (Private Branch Exchange Installer) · PBX Installer · Telecommunications Tech
Related jobs
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics