Wireless operators are using data caps to defend profit margins, they're seeing a sharp rise in tablet usage, and they expect capital spending on 4G networks to grow more than 10 percent in the next three years. That's what we learned from a recent survey of mobile operators on their views about mobile device usage and network spending.

We've excerpted this survey, conducted in October by Heavy Reading and InformationWeek with results from 60 mobile operators and 230 business technology professionals, to graphically show just the results from mobile operators for this article.

Click on the questions below to find out what mobile operators said in response to the following questions:

• What is your company's view of its current price plans for mobile data service?
• What percentage of your customer base will be using smartphones by the end of 2013?
• What percentage of your customer base will be using tablets by the end of 2013?
• How will your company's capex budget for 4G networks change over the next three years?
• How likely is your company to implement data caps for mobile data in the next 12 months?
• What is the biggest reason to implement data caps for mobile data services?

— Phil Harvey, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading.