Round Table

... ON THE FIGHT BETWEEN QWEST COMMUNICATIONS INTERNATIONAL INC. AND VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC. TO ACQUIRE MCI INC.

"Verizon aims to compete head-to-head with the combined entity to be formed by the planned SBC Communications acquisition of AT&T. Buying MCI, the second-largest interexchange carrier ... would clearly be Verizon's best means of accomplishing this goal."
-Gartner Inc. news analysis

"Qwest is confident that the significantly smaller footprint overlap (business, consumer and network) in a Qwest/MCI combination will lead to fewer and less extensive divestiture demands from regulatory agencies and will avoid the industry concentration and public policy issues the Verizon/MCI merger presents."
- Qwest Chairman and CEO Richard Notebaert in a Feb. 24 letter to MCI

"Despite its rhetoric to the contrary, a Qwest/MCI transaction would not close more quickly. In fact, we believe Qwest's plan to 'rationalize complementary nationwide IXC networks' - or in other words, shut down one of two competitive sets of network assets upon which they have built their synergy claims - raises significant public policy issues."
- Verizon Chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg in a March 21 letter to MCI