{ "source": "Cooked Index — occupational AI risk register", "page": "https://cookedindex.com/jobs/telecommunications-equipment-installers-and-repairers-except-line-installers/", "methodology": "https://cookedindex.com/methodology", "notice": "Verdicts are re-examined as evidence accumulates. Re-fetch before relying on this; the page above always carries the current score.", "scored_at": "2026-08-11", "model": "claude-opus-5", "occupation": { "title": "Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers", "soc_code": "49-2022", "category": "Trades", "us_employment": 140920, "median_annual_wage": 63890 }, "verdict": "EXPOSED", "risk_resistance": 55, "contested": false, "near_boundary": false, "dimensions": { "task_resistance": 15, "embodiment": 18, "liability_shield": 4, "trust_premium": 8, "judgment_accountability": 10 }, "reasoning": { "task_resistance": "Fusion-splicing a 12-strand ribbon at a pedestal, fishing drop cable through a 1950s wall cavity, and re-terminating a punch-down block on a live PBX are hand-eye tasks with per-site variation no software can execute — the 15 rather than 18 reflects that the fault-finding half of your callout, the part where you used to trace which pair was shorted, is increasingly handed to you pre-diagnosed by the OSS before you leave the yard.", "embodiment": "You work off ladders and in bucket trucks, in attics above 120°F, in crawl spaces, on rooftops mounting microwave and DAS antennas, and inside cramped riser and MDF closets — uncontrolled customer premises that differ every ticket, which is why this sits at 18 and not lower with bench-repair techs.", "liability_shield": "No state licence gates this work; you may hold BICSI, SCTE or a manufacturer cert and an OSHA 10, and in some jurisdictions a low-voltage registration, but the carrier's engineering authority signs off on the network and the 4 reflects certification that helps you get hired, not statute that protects your headcount.", "trust_premium": "Residential installs are dispatched by ticket to whoever the routing engine sends and the subscriber never learns your name, but enterprise and hospital accounts often demand the same tech who knows where the undocumented cross-connects are — that repeat-account share is what lifts this from a 3 to an 8.", "judgment_accountability": "You decide whether an intermittent is the drop, the splitter, the ONT or the far-end provisioning, and whether to open a wall or reroute — real discretion, but the decision is bounded by installation standards, signal-level specs and escalation to NOC engineering, so it lands at 10 rather than in the ambiguous-high-stakes band." }, "rationale": "The core of this job — pulling fiber and coax through attics, crawl spaces and riser closets, terminating connectors, mounting ONTs and antennas, splicing, and troubleshooting a live circuit at a customer's premises — is exactly the physical work robotics cannot touch this decade. What AI does erode is the diagnostic and paperwork layer: remote line testing, automated fault localization, provisioning, and truck-roll avoidance already cut the number of visits per subscriber. There is no license requirement to hide behind, so headcount tracks build cycles and remote-diagnostic maturity rather than regulation.", "outlook": "Fiber and 5G build-out keeps demand solid through the late 2020s, but as those networks mature and remote diagnostics kill truck rolls, the residential-install tier thins while fiber-splicing and RF specialists hold value.", "what_would_raise_it": { "levers": [ { "dimension": "liability_shield", "change": "State low-voltage/limited-energy licensing expanding to cover premises fiber and inside-wire work — e.g. states like Oregon, Washington, Alabama and Texas already require a limited-energy electrician license or registered technician endorsement for structured cabling; if more states adopt this and utilities/ISPs are barred from using unlicensed subcontractors, a named licensed tech signs the installation record", "plausibility": "plausible", "would_add": 5 }, { "dimension": "liability_shield", "change": "NFPA 70 (NEC) Article 770/800 plus local AHJ inspection sign-off being enforced on residential fiber drops and riser penetrations, including firestop certification (UL-classified firestop systems require an installer of record) — makes a specific human accountable for penetration and plenum-cable compliance", "plausibility": "already happening", "would_add": 3 }, { "dimension": "liability_shield", "change": "FAA/FCC RF-safety and tower-climb regimes (OSHA's communication tower enforcement initiative, NATE/TIRAP credentialing, carrier requirements for competent-person sign-off on antenna and rooftop work) hardening into a required certified signer for each site closeout package", "plausibility": "plausible", "would_add": 3 }, { "dimension": "judgment_accountability", "change": "Task-mix shift: as remote line test and automated fault localization strip out the easy truck rolls, the remaining dispatches are the ones automation could not resolve — intermittent faults, mixed-media plant, interference hunting, customer-premises wiring of unknown provenance. The surviving job is the escalation tier", "plausibility": "already happening", "would_add": 4 }, { "dimension": "judgment_accountability", "change": "Public-safety and critical-infrastructure work carrying explicit accountability: NG911 and FirstNet site maintenance, hospital DAS, and BDA/ERRCS in-building public-safety radio, where IFC 510 requires annual testing and a signed report from a qualified technician", "plausibility": "already happening", "would_add": 3 }, { "dimension": "task_resistance", "change": "BEAD-funded and state broadband builds imposing as-built documentation, OTDR trace submission and location-accuracy audits, so field work includes evidentiary testing that cannot be generated remotely", "plausibility": "already happening", "would_add": 2 } ], "ceiling_note": "Trust premium has no realistic route: the buyer is a carrier or an MSO procurement department buying dispatches at a contracted rate, and the end subscriber does not choose the installer or pay extra for one. Embodiment is already near ceiling and cannot rise. Every liability lever above is state-by-state and covers only part of the work; the routine drop install remains a low-margin subcontracted dispatch whose volume tracks build cycles and remote-diagnostic maturity regardless of licensing." }, "adjudication": null, "employment_history": { "points": [ { "y": 2017, "emp": 233690, "wage": 53380 }, { "y": 2018, "emp": 229890, "wage": 56100 }, { "y": 2019, "emp": 208480, "wage": 57910 }, { "y": 2020, "emp": 190510, "wage": 61470 }, { "y": 2021, "emp": 172830, "wage": 60370 }, { "y": 2022, "emp": 168180, "wage": 59960 }, { "y": 2023, "emp": 159670, "wage": 61270 }, { "y": 2024, "emp": 153890, "wage": 62630 }, { "y": 2025, "emp": 140920, "wage": 63890 } ], "from": 2017, "to": 2025, "change_pct": -39.7, "comparable_from": 2019, "spans_soc_revision": true }, "pivots": [ { "slug": "avionics-technicians", "title": "Avionics Technicians", "verdict": "SAFE", "risk_resistance": 71, "median_wage": 82280, "overlap": 81, "skills_to_close": [ "Science" ] }, { "slug": "security-and-fire-alarm-systems-installers", "title": "Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installers", "verdict": "SAFE", "risk_resistance": 68, "median_wage": 60070, "overlap": 77, "skills_to_close": [] } ], "license": "https://cookedindex.com/terms" }