Vodafone teams up with Amazon's satellites to connect masts in Europe and Africa

File photo: People enter a Vodafone store in Sydney, Australia, on 29 September 2025. Reuters/Hollie Adams/File Photo

Amazon Leo will offer connections of up to 1Gbps for download and 400Mbps for upload to link Vodafone's network to masts in hard-to-reach locations, saving the expense of installing fibre, Vodafone said.

Vodafone will start using Amazon Leo to connect mobile base stations in Germany and other European countries this year before progressively rolling it out across Africa through its subsidiary Vodacom, it said.

Amazon Leo has over 200 satellites in orbit and hundreds more built and ready for launch, Vodafone said.

Vodafone separately plans to offer satellite connections to its customers using standard smartphones with its partner AST SpaceMobile, but has yet to set a date for services to begin.