5G Contract Job Trends in the South East

5G
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South East citing 5G skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 7 November 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

	6 months to 7 Nov 2026	Same period 2025	Same period 2024
Rank	216	163	119
Rank change year-on-year	-53	-44	-46
Contract jobs citing 5G	17	14	60
As % of all contract jobs in the South East	0.25%	0.36%	1.45%
As % of the Communications & Networking category	2.35%	2.32%	8.19%
Number of daily rates quoted	3	8	33
10^th Percentile	£343	£389	£116
25^th Percentile	£369	£415	£350
Median daily rate (50^th Percentile)	£425	£531	£450
Median % change year-on-year	-20.00%	+18.06%	+5.88%
75^th Percentile	£438	£584	£564
90^th Percentile	-	£625	£615
England median daily rate	£450	£475	£500
% change year-on-year	-5.26%	-5.00%	+11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted	0	2	0
Median hourly rate	-	£56.25	-
England median hourly rate	-	£56.25	£35.00
% change year-on-year	-	+60.71%	-46.95%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
South East

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 citing communications or computer networking skills in the South East.

	6 months to 7 Nov 2026	Same period 2025	Same period 2024
Contract vacancies citing communications or computer networking skills	722	604	733
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the South East	10.49%	15.55%	17.70%
Number of daily rates quoted	399	437	412
10^th Percentile	£281	£204	£237
25^th Percentile	£400	£329	£400
Median daily rate (50^th Percentile)	£525	£488	£500
Median % change year-on-year	+7.69%	-2.50%	+7.76%
75^th Percentile	£596	£588	£602
90^th Percentile	£650	£625	£650
England median daily rate	£500	£492	£500
% change year-on-year	+1.63%	-1.60%	-
Number of hourly rates quoted	96	19	40
10^th Percentile	£20.25	£18.32	£26.93
25^th Percentile	£31.25	£27.01	£35.00
Median hourly rate	£52.43	£55.00	£70.00
Median % change year-on-year	-4.68%	-21.43%	+16.67%
75^th Percentile	£67.79	£86.32	£75.00
90^th Percentile	£96.00	£90.45	-
England median hourly rate	£45.00	£31.39	£53.75
% change year-on-year	+43.38%	-41.61%	-4.85%

5G Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

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

5G Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing 5G.

5G Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing 5G.

5G Contract Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing 5G within the South East region over the 6 months to 7 November 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	Job Ads Past 6 Months	Median Daily Rate Past 6 Months	Median Daily Rate % Change on Same Period Last Year	Live Jobs
Thames Valley	-30	17	£425	-19.05%	14
Berkshire	-23	16	£425	-19.05%	6
Oxfordshire	-	1	-	-	2
5G England

5G Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East

For the 6 months to 7 November 2026, contractor job vacancies citing 5G also mentioned the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the South East region citing 5G.

Rank	Skill	Share	Job Ads
1	4G	88.2%	15
2	Diameter Protocol	76.5%	13
3	Roadmaps	70.6%	12
4	2G	64.7%	11
4	3G	64.7%	11
4	SIGTRAN	64.7%	11
4	SS7	64.7%	11
4	Technical Leadership	64.7%	11
4	Test Automation	64.7%	11
10	Stakeholder Management	52.9%	9
10	Technology Roadmap	52.9%	9
12	Problem-Solving	41.2%	7
12	Service Delivery	41.2%	7
14	Customer Requirements	35.3%	6
14	Impact Assessments	35.3%	6
14	Network Architecture	35.3%	6
14	Network Design	35.3%	6
18	Capacity Planning	29.4%	5
18	VoLTE	29.4%	5
20	LTE	17.6%	3
20	Radio Access Network	17.6%	3
22	Broadband	11.8%	2
22	Data Protection	11.8%	2
22	End-to-End Testing	11.8%	2
22	Project Delivery	11.8%	2
22	Regression Testing	11.8%	2
22	SD-WAN	11.8%	2
22	SMS	11.8%	2
22	VoWiFi	11.8%	2
22	WAN	11.8%	2

5G Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East by Category

The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.

Communications & Networking

Rank	Skill	Share	Job Ads
1	4G	88.2%	15
2	Diameter Protocol	76.5%	13
3	2G	64.7%	11
3	3G	64.7%	11
3	SIGTRAN	64.7%	11
3	SS7	64.7%	11
7	VoLTE	29.4%	5
8	LTE	17.6%	3
8	Radio Access Network	17.6%	3
10	Broadband	11.8%	2
10	SD-WAN	11.8%	2
10	SMS	11.8%	2
10	VoWiFi	11.8%	2
10	WAN	11.8%	2
10	Wireshark	11.8%	2
16	3GPP	5.9%	1
16	Network Security	5.9%	1
16	RTCP	5.9%	1
16	RTP	5.9%	1
16	Software-Defined Radio	5.9%	1