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Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), as one of the components of smart power distribution networks, is used to send and receive the consumption, demand, voltage, and current between subscribers and electricity power distribution companies. To set up AMI, various wireless technologies have been used as the telecommunication network infrastructure in different countries. These technologies vary in terms of technical specifications, such as bit rate, frequency, latency, and coverage area. The selection of a technology among them requires a comprehensive study of specific technical requirements of the power distribution network, wireless technology development, and specific economic conditions of each country. From this viewpoint, we first review the research conducted on the design of smart grid telecommunications infrastructure. Then, we review the deployed wireless technologies based on their physical specifications and the way of access to the wireless medium. To differentiate their field of performance properly, we divide the technologies into three categories: short-range, medium-range, and long-range; in addition, we divide them into two groups: licensed and unlicensed operating frequency. Then, we examine the  topology and medium access mechanism of each technology in terms of its transmission delay and transmission capacity; from an executive point of view, we prioritize a set of qualitative criteria for selecting wireless telecommunication technology of AMI in Iran including having technology support in our country, being an open-source technology, having low network setup and maintenance cost, data transmission rate, interference, security and passive defense, ease of design and scalability, medium-access mechanism, and battery life. Then, we compare the wireless technologies, nominated for the telecommunication infrastructure of AMI, based on the proposed criteria. Finally, we suggest some of the most appropriate ones for the congested and geographically extended network of AMI.