LONDON, March 2 (Reuters) - Mobile company Vodafone VOD.L said on Monday it had signed a deal with Amazon Leo, the U.S. company's AMZN.O low Earth orbit satellite network, to connect 4G and 5G mobile masts in remote areas in Europe and Africa.

Amazon Leo will offer connections of up to 1 Gbps for download and 400 Mbps 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 VODJ.J, 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.

(Reporting by Paul SandleEditing by Peter Graff)

((paul.sandle@thomsonreuters.com; +44 20 7542 6843; Reuters Messaging: paul.sandle.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))