By Kate Holton
LONDON, April 18 (Reuters) - Vodafone unveiled araft of changes to its pricing model on Thursday, moving moretowards an American-style system to help protect its income fromtechnologies offering rival services over the Internet.
The changes are designed to deter customers from choosingpopular "over-the-top" services such as Skype, What's App andViber to message friends for free.
The world's second-biggest mobile phone operator said itwould offer its Vodafone Red package across its 14 Europeanmarkets, enabling customers to pay a monthly fee dependent onhow much data they want to use, which includes unlimited callsand text messages for free.
By the end of the year, the British firm will also allowcustomers to take multi-device plans and family plans, whichoffer customers extra devices and extra family members at adiscount to individual mobile plans.
The new pricing approach aims to simplify the billingprocess for customers who own smartphones, laptops and tabletcomputers and want to access the Internet on the go.
The changes also show the influence Vodafone's partnershipwith Verizon Communications is having on the Britishfirm, as such data plans are more common in the United States.
The two groups have a joint venture in the U.S. calledVerizon Wireless, the country's largest mobile operator, butspeculation has mounted that Vodafone could exit the partnershipto generate cash to invest in Europe.
Vodafone Chief Executive Vittorio Colao has said he has anopen mind on keeping the stake, but he has repeatedly said thegroup benefits from its ties in the U.S., where the telecomsmarket is seen as more healthy than Europe, with higher marginsas consumers make more phone calls and pay more for data.
Vodafone said in February that more than 2 million customershad signed up to its Red package in five countries includingBritain and Germany.
Vodafone (VOD)
