Online video has already exploded between video sharing sites like YouTube and all the premium content that media companies are putting online. Cisco (NADSAQ: CSCO) says it will explode again. According to The Wall Street Journal, the firm "is projecting a sixfold jump in Internet traffic between 2007 and 2012."

Not likely. YouTube and its peers are still growing, but not as fast as they were over a year ago when video online was more of a novelty. Media companies have not figured out a way to make a lot of money from putting their programming online. That may mean that they will do less and less of it.

Perhaps the most important reason the use of online video will slow is that carriers, both phone companies and cable firms, want to cut back the amount of bandwidth their customers can use or charge the heavy users. The operations claim services like file sharing are clogging their "pipes" with too much traffic. They need to either cut that down, or make a profit on it.

Cisco may want to check its numbers.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.