Germany, which expressed outrage when it was revealed last year that U.S. intelligence services had listened into the calls of Angela Merkel, also made requests to listen in to conversations and collect the data around them, such as where the calls were made and how long they lasted.
Vodafone received no requests from the government of the United States because it does not have an operating licence there. It exited a joint mobile venture with Verizon last year.
The extent of U.S. and British surveillance was laid bare when the NSA’s Snowden passed stolen secret documents to newspapers, triggering a spy scandal that caused a standoff between U.S. President Barack Obama and the Kremlin and led to calls for greater scrutiny of Western agents.