MCI agreed to be bought by Verizon. See:
I have no regrets to see MCI disappear. IMHO, the company developed its business unfairly by making up its own rules and litigating itself customers instead of earning them.
Imagine two restaurants. One follows rigid and expensive govt regulations regarding sanitation and service, e.g. being open 24/7, serving low-income customers below cost, having a wide variety of foods available at all times, high quality food, have high capacity for large crowds, all under prices set by the govt. The other restaurant is only open during peak hours, sells only profitable foods when it can get them, uses the first restaurant's parking lot, and ignores the govt mandates to provide comprehensive service at all times to all comers. Obviously the second restaurant has a lot of advantages.
Or as someone correctly noted in this newsgroup, how many microwwave towers atop mountains in heavy snow did MCI install and maintain?
I particularly object to people calling MCI the "hero" in taking on AT&T. The record is clear that long distance rates were continually falling as a result of new technologies. Interstate toll calls were as low as 5c per minute. Calls from payphones, collect, and calling cards, conversely, have shot up to ridiculous levels. While other retail products require price labels, there is no such requirement for toll calls. The old AT&T gladly told you the rate before you made a call, I could never get that info out of MCI and certainly not today. But supposedly I, as a consumer, am better off. No, the people who are really better off are new folks in the telecom industry.
It should be noted that over the years MCI lost a number of lawsuits as to its business practices. Most recently: