The other shoe, as expected, has dropped. Verizon is buying MCI for $6.7 billion two weeks after SBC bought AT&T for almost three times that. The two resulting megacarriers will battle it out against each other for enterprises, and the cable companies for consumers as they reshape telecom in the 21st century. Qwest, which had a higher bid rebuffed by MCI, is left to ponder what's next while BellSouth hangs tough in the Southeast. (Read the story)

The megas will have plenty of people watching, including lawmakers. A U.S. senator influential on telecommunications issues said he's "troubled" about recent announcements of multibillion-dollar "mega-mergers," and will press Congress and federal agencies to thoroughly examine the deals' potential impact on customers - especially rural consumers. Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Montana) is chairman of the Communications Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. (Read the story)

The feds are also in the middle of a spat between Vonage and an unnamed ISP for alleged VoIP call blocking. Vonage is claiming that the ISP it won't name is deliberately blocking its customers' calls for some unknown reason. Vonage manually rerouted its calls through the network as a temporary solution to the problem and then raised the issue with the FCC. (Read the story)