Phone companies have little to say about giving customer files to NSA

"We can say that, to the extent that we cooperate with government authorities, we are confident that we are complying with all applicable statutes," a Verizon statement said.

About 80 percent of Washington residents rely on Qwest for local telephone service. USA Today, quoting unnamed sources, said the Denver-based company refused to give the government the records because it was uneasy about handing over customer information to the government without warrants.

Qwest officials declined to comment Thursday.

CenturyTel, which provides local service to about 185,000 customers, the third-largest provider in the state, has provided a tiny amount of telephone records to authorities, mostly in legal requests involving divorce and drug and other law enforcement cases, said Jacquie Goodwill, a spokeswoman for the firm's Washington and Oregon operations.

"We strictly follow the FCC's rules, and we took precautions to not share customer information improperly," Goodwill said.

In 2005, the Louisiana-based company complied with about 1,500 requests for phone records, and 15 percent were "security related," though she couldn't say whether the NSA had requested any data.

T-Mobile hasn't provided the NSA any access to communications or customer records, said spokesman Peter Dobrow. The Bellevue-based company has 22.7 million customers.

Verizon regional spokesman Kevin Laverty said "a lot" of customers have been calling Verizon inquiring about the company's decision to turn over records. But, he said, "our customer-contact representatives have no means of knowing whether or not a customer's number is being monitored since that is the purview of law enforcement and Verizon security personnel."

Sprint Nextel could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Comcast Corp. said it requires "valid, appropriate legal process such as a subpoena, court order or search warrant, in response to all requests for customer information."