Sprint is agreeing to pay $15.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the Obama administration that accuses the Overland Park, Kansas carrier of overcharging the government for wiretapping its customers.

Sprint did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement announced Friday in a San Francisco federal court filing (PDF).

The government, in its 2014 lawsuit, accused Sprint of overbilling $21 million for what San Francisco US Attorney Melinda Haag described as "court-ordered intercepts." The suit said Sprint inflated bills by approximately 58 percent between 2007 and 2010.

A 1994 law known as the Communications Assistance in Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) says carriers must have the technology to wiretap their customers to abide by government demands for wiretaps. When the suit was filed, the carrier responded, saying the law requires the government to pay Sprint for its "reasonable costs" to provide the surveillance. Sprint said it had fully complied with the law and would "defend this matter vigorously."

The suit (PDF), however, claimed Sprint violated 2006 guidelines from the Federal Communications Commission.

"Despite the FCC’s clear and unambiguous ruling, Sprint knowingly included in its intercept charges the costs of financing modifications to equipment, facilities, and services installed to comply with CALEA,” the suit said.

In 2013, the year for which the latest data is available, the federal government reported 3,576 wiretaps overall, a 5 percent increase from the year before. About 88 percent of wiretaps for 2013 were narcotics related.