3G Contract Job Trends

3G
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring 3G skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 1 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 559 509 574
Rank change year-on-year -50 +65 +128
Contract jobs citing 3G 8 44 53
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.023% 0.12% 0.11%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 0.20% 0.99% 0.81%
Number of daily rates quoted 7 22 27
10th Percentile £425 £308 £308
25th Percentile £441 £351 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £460 £450
Median % change year-on-year +8.70% +2.22% -
75th Percentile - £586 £513
90th Percentile £528 £638 £593
UK excluding London median daily rate £570 £450 £450
% change year-on-year +26.67% - +9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 0 12
10th Percentile - - £27.90
25th Percentile - - £62.98
Median hourly rate - - £65.98
75th Percentile - - -
90th Percentile - - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate - - £65.98
% change year-on-year - - +251.89%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

3G 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.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 3,907 4,436 6,533
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 11.38% 12.13% 13.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,529 2,559 4,082
10th Percentile £206 £223 £213
25th Percentile £358 £368 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £685 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £475 £470
% change year-on-year -5.26% +1.06% +4.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 194 163 336
10th Percentile £15.50 £17.71 £17.23
25th Percentile £20.04 £26.25 £22.50
Median hourly rate £34.50 £48.56 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -28.95% -11.71% +35.55%
75th Percentile £65.00 £66.01 £66.44
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £76.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.94 £52.50 £56.49
% change year-on-year -20.11% -7.06% +25.53%

3G
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing 3G relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

3G job vacancy trend in the UK

3G
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing 3G.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing 3G

3G
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing 3G.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing 3G

3G
Top 5 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing 3G within the UK over the 6 months to 1 November 2025. 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
England -59 5 £500 +6.38% 2
London +12 4 £500 -8.68%
UK excluding London -60 2 £570 +26.67% 2
South East -22 1 £570 +23.91% 2
Channel Islands - 1 - -

3G
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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:

Applications
1 1 (12.50%) Microsoft Office
Communications & Networking
1 8 (100.00%) 4G
1 8 (100.00%) 5G
2 5 (62.50%) 2G
3 3 (37.50%) VoIP
4 2 (25.00%) Wi-Fi
4 2 (25.00%) Wireless
5 1 (12.50%) 5G NR
5 1 (12.50%) LTE
5 1 (12.50%) PBX
5 1 (12.50%) Radio Access Network
5 1 (12.50%) VoLTE
Development Applications
1 1 (12.50%) JIRA
General
1 7 (87.50%) Telecoms
2 5 (62.50%) Social Skills
3 2 (25.00%) Analytical Skills
3 2 (25.00%) Finance
Job Titles
1 3 (37.50%) Test Engineer
2 2 (25.00%) Optimisation Engineer
2 2 (25.00%) RF Engineer
2 2 (25.00%) RF Optimisation Engineer
3 1 (12.50%) Consultant
3 1 (12.50%) Senior
3 1 (12.50%) Senior Consultant
3 1 (12.50%) Testing Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 1 (12.50%) Handset
Operating Systems
1 1 (12.50%) Android
1 1 (12.50%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 3 (37.50%) Manual Testing
2 2 (25.00%) Actionable Insight
2 2 (25.00%) Network Design
2 2 (25.00%) Network Optimisation
2 2 (25.00%) Problem-Solving
2 2 (25.00%) Regulatory Compliance
2 2 (25.00%) User Experience
3 1 (12.50%) AI
3 1 (12.50%) Benchmarking
3 1 (12.50%) Data Analysis
3 1 (12.50%) Network Architecture
Programming Languages
1 1 (12.50%) Python
Qualifications
1 2 (25.00%) Degree
1 2 (25.00%) Master's Degree
Systems Management
1 3 (37.50%) NSN NetAct
Vendors
1 1 (12.50%) AirMagnet
1 1 (12.50%) Ekahau
1 1 (12.50%) Microsoft
1 1 (12.50%) Nokia
1 1 (12.50%) Samsung