MCI Says It Will Assess New Offer From Qwest

Long-distance carrier MCI Inc. said Wednesday that it would reopen merger talks with Qwest Communications International Inc. a week after the regional phone company raised its price for MCI to $8.45 billion.

MCI’s board is caught in a bidding war between Denver-based Qwest and New York-based phone giant Verizon Communications Inc.

Brushing aside Qwest’s $8-billion bid last month, MCI agreed then to accept $6.75 billion in cash and stock from Verizon, a financially stronger company that would be better able, with MCI, to compete with the proposed merger of AT&T; Corp. and SBC Communications Inc.

Qwest then tweaked its bid to provide more cash sooner, and MCI agreed to open talks for two weeks, with Verizon’s approval. Last week, a day before talks ended, Qwest increased its offer to $8.45 billion in cash and stock -- more than $5 a share higher than Verizon’s bid.

MCI, based in Ashburn, Va., said it would decide by late Monday whether Qwest’s offer was superior to Verizon’s. If so, it then would have a week to elicit a better offer from Verizon.

The heads of Verizon and Qwest, meantime, have launched a public war of words.

Verizon Chief Executive Ivan G. Seidenberg said in a letter Monday to MCI that Qwest’s proposal was “profoundly flawed and its claims unsupportable.”

Later Monday, Qwest CEO Richard C. Notebaert criticized MCI for halting merger talks and demanded more time with MCI’s directors.

Analyst David W. Barton of Banc of America Securities said last week in a note to investors that it was getting “impossible to analyze the situation.” He and others say that if Verizon really wants MCI, it has the financial might to beat Qwest easily.

MCI shares rose 30 cents to $23.27 on Nasdaq; Qwest added 3 cents to $3.80 and Verizon rose 45 cents to $34.91, both on the New York Stock Exchange.