3G Contract Job Trends

3G
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring 3G skills. It covers vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 18 September 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 549 507 599
Rank change year-on-year -42 +92 +118
Contract jobs citing 3G 19 52 52
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.058% 0.14% 0.11%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 0.50% 1.14% 0.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 14 22 25
10th Percentile £408 £308 £338
25th Percentile £431 £351 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £485 £425
Median % change year-on-year -7.22% +14.12% -2.86%
75th Percentile £495 £586 £486
90th Percentile £500 £638 £760
UK excluding London median daily rate £570 £470 £425
% change year-on-year +21.28% +10.59% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 0 9
10th Percentile - - £48.10
25th Percentile - - -
Median hourly rate £27.00 - £65.98
75th Percentile - - -
90th Percentile - - £67.98
UK excluding London median hourly rate - - £65.98
% change year-on-year - - +388.74%

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 3,796 4,572 6,520
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 11.52% 11.87% 13.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,354 2,662 4,158
10th Percentile £225 £225 £228
25th Percentile £363 £375 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -
75th Percentile £588 £608 £613
90th Percentile £679 £688 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £500 £453
% change year-on-year -10.00% +10.50% +0.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 200 254 300
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.16 £16.77
25th Percentile £25.15 £21.37 £22.94
Median hourly rate £43.00 £50.50 £56.49
Median % change year-on-year -14.85% -10.60% +34.50%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £67.50
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £75.70
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £57.35 £57.50
% change year-on-year -25.89% -0.26% +27.78%

3G
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing 3G as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for 3G 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
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing 3G over the 6 months to 18 September 2025.

Daily rate histogram for 3G in the UK

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 6 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 18 September 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 -25 10 £490 -2.00% 3
London +27 7 £483 -11.87%
UK excluding London -52 3 £570 +21.28% 3
South East -16 2 £570 +17.53% 1
Work from Home +11 1 - - 1
Channel Islands - 1 - -

3G
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Applications
1 3 (15.79%) Microsoft Office
Communications & Networking
1 17 (89.47%) 4G
1 17 (89.47%) 5G
2 10 (52.63%) 2G
3 9 (47.37%) Radio Access Network
4 8 (42.11%) LTE
5 6 (31.58%) VoLTE
6 4 (21.05%) 5G NR
6 4 (21.05%) Diameter Protocol
6 4 (21.05%) RANAP
6 4 (21.05%) Wi-Fi
6 4 (21.05%) Wireshark
7 3 (15.79%) VoIP
8 2 (10.53%) GPRS
8 2 (10.53%) LAN
8 2 (10.53%) WAN
8 2 (10.53%) Wireless
9 1 (5.26%) PBX
9 1 (5.26%) VoWiFi
Development Applications
1 1 (5.26%) JIRA
General
1 12 (63.16%) Social Skills
2 11 (57.89%) Telecoms
3 3 (15.79%) Analytical Skills
4 2 (10.53%) Finance
5 1 (5.26%) Multimedia
Job Titles
1 5 (26.32%) Test Engineer
2 4 (21.05%) Field Engineer
3 3 (15.79%) Senior
4 2 (10.53%) Design Engineer
4 2 (10.53%) Ericsson Engineer
4 2 (10.53%) Ericsson Field Engineer
4 2 (10.53%) Field Service Engineer
4 2 (10.53%) Field Test Engineer
4 2 (10.53%) Optimisation Engineer
4 2 (10.53%) RF Engineer
4 2 (10.53%) RF Optimisation Engineer
4 2 (10.53%) Senior Design Engineer
5 1 (5.26%) Architect
5 1 (5.26%) Core Network Architect
5 1 (5.26%) Migration Architect
5 1 (5.26%) Radio Design Engineer
5 1 (5.26%) RAN Engineer
5 1 (5.26%) Senior Consultant
5 1 (5.26%) Senior RAN Engineer
5 1 (5.26%) Testing Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (10.53%) .NET
1 2 (10.53%) .NET Framework
1 2 (10.53%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 2 (10.53%) Driving Licence
2 1 (5.26%) Handset
Operating Systems
1 1 (5.26%) Android
1 1 (5.26%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 7 (36.84%) Network Architecture
1 7 (36.84%) Problem-Solving
2 5 (26.32%) Performance Analysis
3 4 (21.05%) Customer Experience
3 4 (21.05%) Network Optimisation
3 4 (21.05%) Performance Improvement
3 4 (21.05%) Translating Business Requirements
4 3 (15.79%) Benchmarking
4 3 (15.79%) Manual Testing
5 2 (10.53%) Actionable Insight
5 2 (10.53%) Mathematics
5 2 (10.53%) Network Design
5 2 (10.53%) Regulatory Compliance
5 2 (10.53%) User Experience
6 1 (5.26%) Artificial Intelligence
6 1 (5.26%) Data Analysis
6 1 (5.26%) Migration
Programming Languages
1 2 (10.53%) C#
2 1 (5.26%) Python
Qualifications
1 2 (10.53%) Degree
1 2 (10.53%) Master's Degree
Systems Management
1 5 (26.32%) NSN NetAct
Vendors
1 4 (21.05%) Empirix
1 4 (21.05%) NetScout
2 3 (15.79%) Ericsson
2 3 (15.79%) Microsoft
2 3 (15.79%) Nokia
3 1 (5.26%) AirMagnet
3 1 (5.26%) Ekahau
3 1 (5.26%) Huawei
3 1 (5.26%) Samsung