It's simple. Verizon, Qwest, etc. are not tech companies. They are telecommunications carriers, regulated utilities, who are close to an extension of the government.
The implausible part of the worst PRISM allegations was that Google/Facebook/etc. behaved like that, but telcos have acted as extensions of spy agencies for as long as they've been around -- back to the "Black Chambers".
It's an important point, and one that many people miss. I often see people on the left complain about corporations trying to lobby the government for control, and people on the right complain about the government trying to control corporations, but the reality is that there's basically no distinction between the two.
There's a huge difference between large companies in regulated industries and startups in non-regulated industries (or even decent-sized companies in lightly regulated industries, like tech). And local/state governments vs. federal.
The implausible part of the worst PRISM allegations was that Google/Facebook/etc. behaved like that, but telcos have acted as extensions of spy agencies for as long as they've been around -- back to the "Black Chambers".