Telecom Company to Take Legal Action About NSA Report

About the government accessing customer communications

Orange is preparing its legal response to a report alleging the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) accessed customers' data transmitted by a submarine cable partly used by the French telecoms operator.

German website Spiegel Online said it had seen documents showing the NSA had tapped telecoms data from the cable running from Marseille to North Africa and Asia.

Orange uses the submarine cable along with 13 other telecoms companies, which collectively operate the cable.

A steady drip of allegations from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden about NSA snooping over the past months has raised widespread concern about the reach of the agency's operations and its ability to pry into the affairs of private individuals in the United States and abroad as well as the communications of foreign leaders.