Technology for decreasing latency for contention based scheduling request (SR) is disclosed. A user equipment (UE) can randomly select a physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble index for a PRACH transmission. The UE can multiplex the PRACH preamble index together with a SR message containing a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) and a buffer status report (BSR) for the PRACH transmission. The UE can process, for transmission, to an enhanced node B (eNB), the PRACH preamble index multiplexed with the SR message in a subframe #(n) of the PRACH transmission, wherein n is a subframe number.