city university london school of social sciences convergence of ...

Since end users can benefit from more accessible and cheaper services because ofconvergence, it is commonly agreed that convergence is for sake of consumers. Inthis regard, Tarjanne (2000) states that convergence is good news for end-users. Heindicates that end-users benefit from a widening choice of platform-independentservices at decreasing costs. He further claims that, „these should change the way wedo business and live our daily lives. New applications in areas of telemedicine,education and electronic commerce, for example should increase the quality of lifefor many and transform our society in the same way as electricity and telephoneshave done for the past hundred years‟ (p.42). Similar to Tarjanne, Hukill et al. (2000)state that convergence spells good news for consumers „as availability of servicesincreases even as the services themselves become more affordable‟ (p.303).Regarding the effects of convergence on consumers, affordability and availabilityissues are also stated by the World Bank (2009). In a recent report of the WorldBank, it is indicated that since the prices lower because of the convergence,consumers‟ access to services expands and this widens coverage by using multipleinfrastructures (p.21). The report also draws attention that ICT users are able toaccess a range of services through a wide variety of devices because of convergence(p.24).Besides foremost effects as availability and affordability of services, convergencealso has some less direct effects on end users as stated above. Hukill et al. (2000)note that convergence leads continued and renewed interest in developing nationalinformation infrastructures and this development provides introduction of newservices even in the countries that have limited service availability. According tothem, development of information infrastructure leads a broad range of social andeconomic activities such as „increasingly efficient business and trade links to bettereducational opportunities‟ (p.303). Furthermore, it is stated by the World Bank(2009) that „convergence has an indirect effect on social and economic development‟by changing business models, expanding markets, increasing the range of services,applications available to users and altering market structure (p.21).22