3G Contracts

3G
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies requiring 3G skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited 3G over the 6 months leading up to 1 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 472 534 649
Rank change year-on-year +62 +115 +46
Contract jobs citing 3G 48 48 69
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.16% 0.11% 0.12%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 1.29% 0.85% 0.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 34 26 45
10th Percentile £201 £328 £296
25th Percentile £422 £372 £357
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £490 £400
Median % change year-on-year -8.16% +22.50% -6.54%
75th Percentile - £788 £519
90th Percentile £479 - £830
UK excluding London median daily rate £220 £469 £450
% change year-on-year -53.07% +4.17% +8.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 1 2
10th Percentile - - £53.63
25th Percentile - £24.25 £57.02
Median hourly rate £27.00 £24.50 £65.16
Median % change year-on-year +10.20% -62.40% +440.71%
75th Percentile - £24.75 £71.81
90th Percentile - - £74.32
UK excluding London median hourly rate - £24.50 £65.16
% change year-on-year - -62.40% +440.71%

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 3,722 5,629 7,357
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 12.71% 12.92% 12.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,285 3,368 4,786
10th Percentile £213 £205 £235
25th Percentile £363 £350 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £495 £519
Median % change year-on-year -1.52% -4.53% +3.70%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £638
90th Percentile £675 £700 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £465 £481 £475
% change year-on-year -3.38% +1.32% +8.57%
Number of hourly rates quoted 177 423 478
10th Percentile £14.20 £13.57 £9.80
25th Percentile £17.30 £17.35 £10.63
Median hourly rate £29.00 £40.00 £19.00
Median % change year-on-year -27.50% +110.53% -32.74%
75th Percentile £57.50 £62.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £67.40 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £24.18 £45.88 £18.50
% change year-on-year -47.30% +148.00% -13.95%

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
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing 3G.

Daily rate trend for 3G in the UK

3G
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing 3G over the 6 months to 1 May 2025.

Daily rate histogram for 3G in the UK

3G
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing 3G.

Hourly rate trend for 3G in the UK

3G
Top 9 Contract 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 May 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 +38 28 £413 -15.82% 11
UK excluding London +44 21 £220 -53.07% 7
South East +38 20 £220 -47.46% 3
Work from Home +26 9 £205 -73.55% 5
North of England +23 7 £205 -43.84% 1
North West +21 7 £205 -43.84%
London +35 5 £400 -18.37% 3
East Midlands - 1 £650 - 2
Midlands - 1 £650 - 2

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:

Application Platforms
1 3 (6.25%) OpenStack
Applications
1 5 (10.42%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (4.17%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (4.17%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Cloud Services
1 5 (10.42%) OpenShift
2 1 (2.08%) Azure
2 1 (2.08%) Azure DevOps
2 1 (2.08%) Cloud Computing
2 1 (2.08%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 46 (95.83%) 4G
2 44 (91.67%) 5G
3 31 (64.58%) LTE
3 31 (64.58%) Radio Access Network
4 22 (45.83%) Diameter Protocol
5 21 (43.75%) VoLTE
6 20 (41.67%) RANAP
6 20 (41.67%) Wireshark
7 18 (37.50%) 2G
8 5 (10.42%) 3GPP
8 5 (10.42%) Network Security
9 4 (8.33%) Ethernet
9 4 (8.33%) MPLS
10 3 (6.25%) 5G NR
11 2 (4.17%) DNS
11 2 (4.17%) GPRS
11 2 (4.17%) HTTP
11 2 (4.17%) LAN
11 2 (4.17%) WAN
11 2 (4.17%) Wi-Fi
General
1 27 (56.25%) Social Skills
2 20 (41.67%) Telecoms
3 3 (6.25%) Analytical Skills
3 3 (6.25%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 3 (6.25%) Multimedia
4 2 (4.17%) Presentation Skills
5 1 (2.08%) Public Sector
Job Titles
1 5 (10.42%) Designer
2 4 (8.33%) Architect
2 4 (8.33%) Field Engineer
2 4 (8.33%) Technical Design Authority
3 3 (6.25%) Design Engineer
3 3 (6.25%) IP Designer
4 2 (4.17%) Ericsson Engineer
4 2 (4.17%) Ericsson Field Engineer
4 2 (4.17%) Field Service Engineer
4 2 (4.17%) Field Test Engineer
4 2 (4.17%) Lead
4 2 (4.17%) Network Architect
4 2 (4.17%) Senior
4 2 (4.17%) Senior Design Engineer
4 2 (4.17%) Technical Architect
4 2 (4.17%) Technical Design Architect
4 2 (4.17%) Test Engineer
5 1 (2.08%) Network Engineer
5 1 (2.08%) Network Service Designer
5 1 (2.08%) Service Designer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (4.17%) .NET
1 2 (4.17%) .NET Framework
1 2 (4.17%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 7 (14.58%) IoT
1 7 (14.58%) Smartphone
2 5 (10.42%) Driving Licence
3 4 (8.33%) Onboarding
4 3 (6.25%) Data Centre
5 1 (2.08%) Hybrid Cloud
5 1 (2.08%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 7 (14.58%) Android
1 7 (14.58%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 28 (58.33%) Network Architecture
2 20 (41.67%) Customer Experience
2 20 (41.67%) Performance Improvement
3 19 (39.58%) Performance Analysis
4 18 (37.50%) Translating Business Requirements
5 6 (12.50%) Project Management
6 5 (10.42%) Problem-Solving
7 4 (8.33%) Customer Service
7 4 (8.33%) Data Security
7 4 (8.33%) Mobile Device Management
7 4 (8.33%) Network Design
7 4 (8.33%) Roadmaps
7 4 (8.33%) Time Management
7 4 (8.33%) Validation
8 3 (6.25%) Computer Science
8 3 (6.25%) Design Patterns
8 3 (6.25%) Network Management
9 2 (4.17%) Conflict Resolution
9 2 (4.17%) Project Delivery
9 2 (4.17%) Technology Roadmap
Programming Languages
1 2 (4.17%) C#
Qualifications
1 7 (14.58%) Degree
2 2 (4.17%) Computer Science Degree
3 1 (2.08%) ISEB
3 1 (2.08%) ISTQB
3 1 (2.08%) SC Cleared
3 1 (2.08%) Security Cleared
System Software
1 1 (2.08%) VMware Infrastructure
1 1 (2.08%) VMware NSX
1 1 (2.08%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 5 (10.42%) Kubernetes
2 2 (4.17%) NSN NetAct
Vendors
1 20 (41.67%) Empirix
1 20 (41.67%) NetScout
2 6 (12.50%) VMware
3 5 (10.42%) Ericsson
3 5 (10.42%) Microsoft
4 4 (8.33%) Nokia
4 4 (8.33%) ServiceNow
5 2 (4.17%) Cisco
5 2 (4.17%) Mavenir
6 1 (2.08%) Arista
6 1 (2.08%) Dell
6 1 (2.08%) Huawei
6 1 (2.08%) Juniper
6 1 (2.08%) Red Hat