Market research firm Mobile Experts believes leading mobile operators will run out of capacity in the near future.

Principal analyst Joe Madden says operators such as AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile/Sprint will not succeed without using millimeter wave capacity to augment existing bands. Consumer demand for mobile data will continue to soar, and providing coverage and data rates are challenges market players will be forced to solve — quickly.

Madden says

”If mobile data were only used for maps and short Facebook videos, then usage would likely level off at 10 to 15 GB per month, and the market would flatten out. But people are watching videos that consume far greater amounts of data, and the ceiling on mobile data usage has now shot up to a new level.”

Madden’s prediction is contained in a new Expert INSIGHT report. The analysis finds the consumer market shifting, with major transitions already occurring.

”From our perspective, mobile is winning and cable is losing, In the U.S. market, the transition has already begun. T-Mobile offers unlimited Netflix over their network. AT&T is launching a direct-to-consumer streaming service for HBO and other Time Warner content. Cable companies are losing TV customers quickly, but will soon begin to lose internet customers as well; the market is being forced to adapt or fall apart." — Joe Madden