Telecommunications Technician Hourly Pay (2026 Data)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 2,718 US job postings by 492 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for telecommunications technicians: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 2,718 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for telecommunications technicians in US job postings is $27.50 an hour (465 postings from 124 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $22.50 to $32.00 an hour.
- The skills that most set telecommunications technician postings apart are otdr, bicsi.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 2 years of experience.
Telecommunications Technician job postings in the US, October 2026
- $27.50/hr
- Median advertised pay (465 postings)
- $22.50–$32.00
- Middle 50% of postings
- 2,718
- US job postings from 492 employers
- 2 years
- Median experience asked
How much does a telecommunications technician make an hour?
The median advertised pay is $27.50 an hour, from 465 US job postings by 124 employers that state pay. That is about $58,000 a year at 2,080 hours.
Advertised pay in 465 US telecommunications technician job postings: median $58,000 a year ($27.50 an hour), middle half $47,000 to $67,000.
- Median: $58,000 ($27.50/hr)
- 25th percentile: $47,000
- 75th percentile: $67,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $20K–$30K | 0.5% |
| $30K–$40K | 7.7% |
| $40K–$50K | 23.8% |
| $50K–$60K | 23.1% |
| $60K–$70K | 24.6% |
| $70K–$80K | 11.4% |
| $80K–$90K | 4.5% |
| $90K–$100K | 1.5% |
| $100K–$110K | 0.7% |
| $110K–$120K | 1.2% |
Midpoint of each posting's pay range, hourly pay × 2,080 hours; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
| Median | Middle 50% | Postings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postings that state an hourly rate | $27.50 | $22.50–$32.00 | 362 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $58,000 | $47K–$67K | 465 |
What is the starting salary for a telecommunications technician?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
Skills employers ask for in telecommunications technician job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Communication | 33% |
| Attention to detail | 15% |
| Work independently | 14% |
| Problem-solving | 13% |
| Troubleshooting | 12% |
| Customer service | 12% |
| Microsoft Office | 12% |
| Otdr | 11% |
| Organizational skills | 10% |
| Excel | 8% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set telecommunications technicians apart
- Otdr463.5× as often as in all postings · 11%
- Otdrs509.2× as often as in all postings · 5%
- Troubleshooting6.4× as often as in all postings · 12%
- Hand tools10.1× as often as in all postings · 6%
- Strong work ethic4.6× as often as in all postings · 7%
- Basic computer skills3.2× as often as in all postings · 6%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a telecommunications technician job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does a telecommunications technician do?
Employers post these jobs as Cable Technician, Fiber Splicer, Fiber Technician, Communications Technician, Tower Foreman and other titles. The largest specializations are Fiber Splicer (30%), Cable Technician (10%), Private Branch Exchange (PBX) Technician (under 1%).
The closest official occupation is Telecommunications Line Installers and Repairers (49-9052.00). Its most important tasks:
- Splice cables, using hand tools, epoxy, or mechanical equipment.
- Inspect or test lines or cables, recording and analyzing test results, to assess transmission characteristics and locate faults or malfunctions.
- Clean or maintain tools or test equipment.
- Set up service for customers, installing, connecting, testing, or adjusting equipment, such as digital subscriber line modems.
- 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.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
How much experience do you need to be a telecommunications technician?
Among 781 postings that state a minimum, the median is 2 years. 2% say 0 years and 27% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 781 US telecommunications technician job postings: median 2 years, and 27% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | 3% |
| 1 yr | 23% |
| 2 yrs | 33% |
| 3-4 yrs | 20% |
| 5-7 yrs | 17% |
| 8-9 yrs | 2% |
| 10+ yrs | 1% |
Postings that state a minimum (required or preferred); at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
We do not show a degree figure: in our checks, degree requirements in posting text were found too rarely to publish one. Why.
Other names for a telecommunications technician: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Cable Technician | 47 (9.6%) |
| Fiber Splicer | 42 (8.5%) |
| Fiber Technician | 33 (6.7%) |
| Communications Technician | 29 (5.9%) |
| Telecommunications Technician | 27 (5.5%) |
| Tower Foreman | 20 (4.1%) |
| Structured Cabling Technician | 19 (3.9%) |
| Tower Technician | 19 (3.9%) |
| Splicer | 19 (3.9%) |
| Low Voltage Technician | 17 (3.5%) |
| Cabling Technician | 17 (3.5%) |
| Wireless Technician | 15 (3.0%) |
| Telecom Technician | 13 (2.6%) |
| Network Technician | 13 (2.6%) |
| Fiber Optic Technician | 12 (2.4%) |
| Coax Splicer | 10 (2.0%) |
| Radio Technician | 9 (1.8%) |
| Installation Technician | 9 (1.8%) |
| Broadband Technician | 9 (1.8%) |
| Outside Plant Technician | 9 (1.8%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Telecommunications Technician compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Telecommunications Technician | $27.50/hr | 2 years | 2,718 | – |
| Groundskeeper | $19.73/hr | 2 years | 5,631 | 15 |
| Aircraft Mechanic | $35.18/hr | 3 years | 2,617 | 15 |
| General Laborer | $20.00/hr | 1 year | 6,220 | 14 |
| Manufacturing Technician | $25.00/hr | 2 years | 3,947 | 19 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Groundskeeper | 15 | $19.73/hr |
| Aircraft Mechanic | 15 | $35.18/hr |
| General Laborer | 14 | $20.00/hr |
| Manufacturing Technician | 19 | $25.00/hr |
| Assembler | 17 | $21.45/hr |
| Electrician | 18 | $36.23/hr |
Applying for telecommunications technician jobs?
- Telecommunications technician resume examples: one-page examples for these roles
- Match your resume to a job: paste a posting and see the skills your resume is missing
- Check your resume: see how an applicant tracking system reads it
- Find telecommunications technician jobs: search open postings
Source and method
Open US job postings collected from employers' applicant tracking systems, de-duplicated, counted only when their job title was read in our audit. Shares count at most 20 postings per employer, and franchise locations of one brand count as one employer. Pay uses hourly and annual figures only; a figure is shown when leaving out the largest employer moves it by 10% or less. Every figure states its number of postings. Methodology and measured accuracy.
Accuracy check: we read 20 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 18 of them were this career or a closely related one (October 2026).
Download the figures on this page (CSV): every number above with its count of postings. Aggregate figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; cite the page when you reuse them.