AI exposure: Telecommunications Line Installers and Repairers
Install and repair telecommunications cable, including fiber optics.
Reading this score
computedAt 9.1% of weighted task load, Telecommunications Line Installers and Repairers sits at the 12th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 86.2% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 20 tasks it averages 2.65 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work has to happen in physical space. A language model cannot move matter. Until the robotics to do this work is both good enough and cheap enough to deploy widely, capability in software does not reach it.
The most exposed thing this job does is Explain cable service to subscribers after installation, and collect any installation fees due, at 61.3%. The least is Participate in the construction or removal of telecommunication towers or associated support..., at 0.0%. A gap of 61.3% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within installation, maintenance and repair occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 13.8% across the group's 50 roles, with 35 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 20 tasks, 3 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 17 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 0.53 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.65 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.34 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.88 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.07 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.10 | 0-3 |
Task by task
20 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Explain cable service to subscribers after installation, and collect any installation fees due. | 61.3% | 26.2% | 12.5% | 3.59 | exposed |
| Compute impedance of wires from poles to houses to determine additional resistance needed for reducing signals to desired levels. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 3.82 | exposed |
| Inspect or test lines or cables, recording and analyzing test results, to assess transmission characteristics and locate faults or malfunctions. | 37.5% | 25.0% | 37.5% | 4.38 | exposed |
| Measure signal strength at utility poles, using electronic test equipment. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 4.01 | untouched |
| Set up service for customers, installing, connecting, testing, or adjusting equipment, such as digital subscriber line modems. | 10.0% | 6.7% | 83.3% | 4.09 | untouched |
| Splice cables, using hand tools, epoxy, or mechanical equipment. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.40 | untouched |
| Clean or maintain tools or test equipment. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.15 | untouched |
| 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. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.02 | untouched |
| Lay underground cable directly in trenches, or string it through conduits running through trenches. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.76 | untouched |
| Pull cable through ducts by hand or with winches. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.52 | untouched |
| Pull up cable by hand from large reels mounted on trucks. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.16 | untouched |
| Travel to customers' premises to install, maintain, or repair audio and visual electronic reception equipment or accessories. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.06 | untouched |
| Place insulation over conductors, or seal splices with moisture-proof covering. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.91 | untouched |
| String cables between structures and lines from poles, towers, or trenches, and pull lines to proper tension. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.57 | untouched |
| Fill and tamp holes, using cement, earth, and tamping devices. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.56 | untouched |
| Dig trenches for underground wires or cables. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.50 | untouched |
| Install equipment such as amplifiers or repeaters to maintain the strength of communications transmissions. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.47 | untouched |
| Use a variety of construction equipment to complete installations, such as digger derricks, trenchers, or cable plows. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.12 | untouched |
| Dig holes for power poles, using power augers or shovels, set poles in place with cranes, and hoist poles upright, using winches. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 2.93 | untouched |
| Participate in the construction or removal of telecommunication towers or associated support structures. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 2.47 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.