More than 40 million smartphone owners are active users of at least one wellness or fitness app, according to a newly released Parks Associates research. About one in four heads of household in broadband households use a mobile app to track their fitness progress or calorie intake, and the research firm expects usage and adoption to increase with the release of new “mobile form factors” such as the Apple Watch.

“Digital health is an important part of the Internet of Everything, and wireless carriers need to align their connected health businesses with their larger connected living strategies,” said Jennifer Kent, Director, Research Quality & Innovation at Parks Associates. “Mobile carriers have multiple opportunities to provide value for business customers and consumers, though the landscape differs significantly by region.”

U.S. carriers have been slow to make their way into the wellness and fitness space, unlike carriers in global markets, particularly Asia, where carriers have been aggressive in entering the health markets.

Parks Associates recommends text-based health, weight management, and prescription authentication programs for mobile carriers to create new revenue streams.Kent thinks that carriers have the opportunity to “bridge the divide between care providers and consumers,” particularly in regards to health data collection and transfer as well as communications between providers and patients. Parks Associates recommends text-based health, weight management, and prescription authentication programs for mobile carriers to create new revenue streams.

Finally, the research firm has found that connected health devices accounted for approximately 4% of all M2M (machine-to-machine) connections in the U.S. in 2014, and that number if poised to double over the next five years.