The present invention relates to a method for controlling the tension applied to a cable (10) in a cable installation machine which pulls the cable (10) with a controller (30) by winding a cabling wire (15), comprising the stages of: (a) setting the reference tension (TR) and reference velocity (VR); (b) receiving actual tension (TA) from a sensor; (c) comparing the actual tension (TA) with the reference tension (TR); and (d) maintaining optimal cable laying velocity by changing the velocity of command (VC) so as to correspond to the result of comparison. Accordingly, an effect of securing the improvement of productivity can be obtained by shortening of working time while maintaining the tension of the cable to the preset limit and while preventing damage of the cable due to an excess of tension by operating the cable installation machine to the closest velocity to the preset cable laying velocity.
