Leaked documents show Vodafone, BT, Verizon and some other seven Private Telecom Companies have been secretly collaborating with the British spy agency, GCHQ. GCHQ has the ability to tap cables carrying both internet data and phone calls. The US government has paid at least ..100m to the UK spy agency GCH Q over the last three years to secure access to and influence over Britain’s intelligence gathering programs. GCH has been built up over the past five years by attaching intercept probes to the transatlantic cables where they land on British shores.
Source: https://thehackernews.com/2013/08/GCHQ-surveillance-Telecom-vodafone-Snowden.html