5G Contract Job Trends in England

5G
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring 5G skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 19 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 501 360 298
Rank change year-on-year -141 -62 +228
Contract jobs citing 5G 43 128 259
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.14% 0.48% 0.71%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 1.30% 3.75% 5.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 27 55 85
10th Percentile £311 £329 £375
25th Percentile £430 £450 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £538 £450
Median % change year-on-year -6.98% +19.44% +7.46%
75th Percentile £600 £618 £530
90th Percentile £638 £660 £583
UK median daily rate £488 £520 £450
% change year-on-year -6.25% +15.56% +6.51%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 2 12
10th Percentile £26.23 £25.75 £27.90
25th Percentile £37.06 £26.88 £62.98
Median hourly rate £56.25 £30.00 £65.98
Median % change year-on-year +87.50% -54.53% +1.51%
75th Percentile £75.56 £34.38 -
90th Percentile £86.48 £36.25 £67.40
UK median hourly rate £56.25 £30.00 £65.98
% change year-on-year +87.50% -54.53% -0.41%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
England

5G falls under the Communications and Computer Networking category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring communications or computer networking skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 3,301 3,415 5,146
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 10.42% 12.81% 14.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,140 1,973 3,177
10th Percentile £204 £220 £206
25th Percentile £355 £370 £353
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £489 £500 £495
Median % change year-on-year -2.25% +1.01% -4.81%
75th Percentile £588 £603 £600
90th Percentile £680 £688 £700
UK median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -2.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 151 105 330
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.08 £18.51
25th Percentile £18.94 £21.46 £24.00
Median hourly rate £30.00 £35.00 £56.49
Median % change year-on-year -14.29% -38.04% +136.26%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.50 £65.98
90th Percentile £74.26 £70.75 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £30.00 £35.00 £56.45
% change year-on-year -14.29% -37.99% +156.57%

5G
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing 5G relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

5G job vacancy trend in England

5G
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing 5G.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing 5G

5G
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing 5G in England over the 6 months to 19 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for 5G in England

5G
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing 5G.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing 5G

5G
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing 5G in England over the 6 months to 19 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for 5G in England

5G
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing 5G within the England region over the 6 months to 19 January 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
London -40 24 £500 -16.67% 5
South East -58 8 £585 +12.50% 17
West Midlands -30 5 £500 - 3
Midlands -36 5 £500 -23.08% 7
South West -15 4 £450 +32.35% 2
East of England -24 1 £525 +5.00% 15
5G
UK

5G
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 3 (6.98%) OpenStack
Business Applications
1 2 (4.65%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 8 (18.60%) AWS
2 5 (11.63%) Azure
3 3 (6.98%) GCP
4 2 (4.65%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 16 (37.21%) 4G
2 12 (27.91%) Radio Access Network
3 11 (25.58%) 2G
3 11 (25.58%) BGP
4 10 (23.26%) Firewall
4 10 (23.26%) MPLS
5 9 (20.93%) Wireless
6 6 (13.95%) OSPF
6 6 (13.95%) VLAN
6 6 (13.95%) Wi-Fi
7 5 (11.63%) 3GPP
7 5 (11.63%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
7 5 (11.63%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
7 5 (11.63%) Network Security
7 5 (11.63%) VoIP
7 5 (11.63%) WAN
8 4 (9.30%) 3G
8 4 (9.30%) LTE
8 4 (9.30%) SD-WAN
9 3 (6.98%) RSVP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (9.30%) GIS
2 2 (4.65%) Power BI
2 2 (4.65%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 5 (11.63%) Git
General
1 22 (51.16%) Telecoms
2 16 (37.21%) Social Skills
3 2 (4.65%) Analytical Skills
4 1 (2.33%) Aviation
4 1 (2.33%) Documentation Skills
4 1 (2.33%) Finance
4 1 (2.33%) Public Sector
4 1 (2.33%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 10 (23.26%) Network Engineer
2 7 (16.28%) Architect
2 7 (16.28%) Design Engineer
3 6 (13.95%) Network Design Engineer
4 5 (11.63%) Senior
4 5 (11.63%) Solutions Architect
5 4 (9.30%) Network Design Specialist
5 4 (9.30%) Network Specialist
5 4 (9.30%) Test Engineer
5 4 (9.30%) Wireless Engineer
6 3 (6.98%) Lead
6 3 (6.98%) Senior Manager
6 3 (6.98%) Wireless Network Engineer
7 2 (4.65%) Ericsson Engineer
7 2 (4.65%) Technical Leader
7 2 (4.65%) WAN Engineer
8 1 (2.33%) DevOps Developer
8 1 (2.33%) DevOps Engineer
8 1 (2.33%) RAN Design Engineer
8 1 (2.33%) Telecoms Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (4.65%) JSON
1 2 (4.65%) NETCONF
1 2 (4.65%) XML
1 2 (4.65%) YANG
2 1 (2.33%) OpenConfig
Miscellaneous
1 10 (23.26%) IoT
2 8 (18.60%) NB-IoT
3 5 (11.63%) Product Ownership
4 3 (6.98%) Data Centre
4 3 (6.98%) Distributed Architecture
4 3 (6.98%) Operational Technology
5 2 (4.65%) Algorithms
5 2 (4.65%) Cloud Native
5 2 (4.65%) Data Protection Act
6 1 (2.33%) Distributed Systems
6 1 (2.33%) Hybrid Cloud
6 1 (2.33%) Mobile App
6 1 (2.33%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 1 (2.33%) Android
Processes & Methodologies
1 12 (27.91%) Network Design
2 9 (20.93%) Agile
2 9 (20.93%) DevOps
3 8 (18.60%) Business Strategy
4 7 (16.28%) Roadmaps
5 6 (13.95%) Analytics
5 6 (13.95%) Change Management
5 6 (13.95%) Data Analysis
5 6 (13.95%) ETL
5 6 (13.95%) ITIL
5 6 (13.95%) Load Balancing
5 6 (13.95%) Programme Management
6 5 (11.63%) Problem-Solving
6 5 (11.63%) Stakeholder Management
6 5 (11.63%) Storytelling
6 5 (11.63%) Vulnerability Assessment
7 4 (9.30%) Architectural Design
7 4 (9.30%) Business Case
7 4 (9.30%) PRINCE2
7 4 (9.30%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 11 (25.58%) Python
2 9 (20.93%) SQL
3 2 (4.65%) R
4 1 (2.33%) C
4 1 (2.33%) C++
4 1 (2.33%) Embedded C
4 1 (2.33%) Embedded C++
Qualifications
1 8 (18.60%) Security Cleared
2 7 (16.28%) SC Cleared
3 5 (11.63%) CCNP
3 5 (11.63%) Cisco Certification
4 4 (9.30%) PMI Certification
4 4 (9.30%) PMP
5 3 (6.98%) BPSS Clearance
5 3 (6.98%) CCIE
5 3 (6.98%) Degree
6 2 (4.65%) CCNA
7 1 (2.33%) BC Cleared
7 1 (2.33%) CCIE Routing and Switching
7 1 (2.33%) CCIE Wireless
7 1 (2.33%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (2.33%) CWSP
7 1 (2.33%) MCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (9.30%) QA
2 3 (6.98%) GDPR
3 1 (2.33%) SLA
System Software
1 3 (6.98%) Docker
Systems Management
1 5 (11.63%) FortiGate
2 2 (4.65%) Ansible
2 2 (4.65%) Kubernetes
3 1 (2.33%) Amdocs OSS
Vendors
1 8 (18.60%) F5
2 7 (16.28%) Cisco
2 7 (16.28%) Nokia
3 3 (6.98%) Aruba
3 3 (6.98%) Dell
4 2 (4.65%) BMC
4 2 (4.65%) Ekahau
4 2 (4.65%) Ericsson
4 2 (4.65%) Fortinet
4 2 (4.65%) Juniper
4 2 (4.65%) Palo Alto
4 2 (4.65%) Remedy
5 1 (2.33%) Ciena
5 1 (2.33%) Cramer
5 1 (2.33%) Mapinfo
5 1 (2.33%) QinetiQ
5 1 (2.33%) Zscaler