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BellSouth says it has no evidence it was contacted by a U.S. spy agency or gave the government access to any of its customers’ phone call records, disputing a published report that sparked a national debate on federal surveillance tactics.

The regional Bell, which offers telecommunication services in nine Southeastern states, said Monday it had conducted a “thorough review” and established that it had not given the National Security Agency customer call records….

“Based on our review to date, we have confirmed no such contract exists and we have not provided bulk customer calling records to the NSA,” the company said in a statement.  

BellSouth spokesman Jeff Battcher said the company’s investigation found “no contract with the NSA and we are confident that we have turned over no phone records.”          

In a later telephone interview, Battcher added “we cannot find anyone within BellSouth who has ever been approached by the NSA.”  

[Associated Press | May 16, 2006]