The battle between Verizon and MCI seems far from over, despite a signed agreement between Verizon and MCI and in spite of the fact that MCI has turned down three previous offers from Qwest.

Fueled by public declarations of around 30 percent of MCI’s shareholders, including its largest shareholder, Carlos Slim, that they will vote against the Verizon deal, Qwest has nearly completed a deal that would see those shareholders underwriting an equity infusion of $2 billion into Quest for support of their bid.

The deal is contingent on the MCI board of directors’ endorsement of Qwest’s offer. There is at least one obstacle to the deal: under the agreement between MCI and Verizon, Verizon has the right to force a vote on its offer even if MCI decides in favor of Qwest’s bid.

MCI would have to actively reject Verizon’s bid before being free to consider the bid by Qwest. There are several options open to Qwest, however.

They can raise their current offer, they can take either their current offer or a revised offer directly to MCI’s shareholders, or they can stage a proxy fight to attempt to take control of MCI.

Those close to the current negotiations believe that a proxy fight might not be necessary if Qwest can get the support of MCI’s board of directors for a revised offer.