Telecommunications deregulation suffered a serious setback on May 13 when the Supreme Court handed down its eagerly awaited decision in Verizon Communications v. Federal Communications Commission, and held that federal regulators could continue to force incumbent local telephone companies to share elements of their networks with rivals at heavily discounted rates. Although it remains unclear how big a blow the ruling will be to ongoing industry liberalization efforts, it will certainly make the transition to a free market in telecom services more difficult than was previously expected.