Marcia Wilson
Lead Instructor
UNISA
wilsom@unisa.ac.za
+27 12 429 6843

Students will "attend" class for at least 3 hours a week, every week. Attendance in this class is classified as "logged-on or otherwise connected to this digital learning environment and actively engaged in productive learning."

Regulation is a relatively new discipline, which evolved only during the late nineteenth-century and has increasingly become central to the management of markets worldwide, to the extent that exclusive reference to the invisible hand of the market has almost disappeared. The maturity of the discipline is now self evident; the volume of theoretical and empirical literature on regulation has expanded and the practical application of regulation in administrative circles has escalated. The ITU recorded that there are over a hundred telecommunications regulators worldwide. The developments have provided for a rich resource of varied regulatory experiences. Regulation has also replaced other state forms of intervention in the economy as evinced in the plethora of regulatory agencies throughout different sectors; water, transport, electricity.

This new prominence given to regulation has further highlighted the challnges faced by practitioners everywhere. These have centred mainly on the social, economic, technical and political issues and concerns. This course introduces you to the likely social, economic, technical and political dimensions of regulation, the modes and styles of regulation (including princing and licensing).

The topics covered in this course are orgnaised as follows:

• Basic Principles of Regulation
• The Role of Regulation in Competition
• Types and Styles of Regualtion
• Instruments of Regulation

At the end of this course the learner should be able to:

• Identify the need for regulation in the ICT sector
• Explain the basic principles of regulation and regulatory concepts
• Evaluate how the types and styles of regulation are applied in your country
• Recommend improvements for your country's regulatory environment to foster socio-economic development

As you work through the study units, you will come across activities to be completed. These activities are intended to facilitate the learning process and preparation for assignments and the examination. They focus on the learning objectives and will also help you determine whether you understand the content of the particular study unit and whether you are able to apply that knowledge in the practice of management. We trust that this module will contribute to your career developments and we wish you every success in the course!

Assessment will be based on the following:

• Responses to study activities posted on the discussion forum. (All worth 10 percent of final year mark)
• An assignment comprising three essays (one essay per study unit). Work completed in an assignment is worth 40 percent of the final mark
• Three hour examination is worth 50 percent of the final mark