Qwest Communications said on Monday it has provided to MCI the merger agreement. MCI’s refusal was followed by their own «superior proposal», according to the company’s officials.

The next step of merger talks will be held as soon as possible, as MCI has already agreed to be acquired under a sweetened bid from Verizon Communications Inc.

The pending disappearances of AT&T Corp., which is being acquired by SBC, and MCI Inc., the subject of a bidding war between Verizon and Qwest Communications International Inc., will remove the two most formidable opponents to the lobbying efforts of the Baby Bells, so called because they were formed as part of the legal settlement that broke up AT&T’s old Bell System in 1984.