Vodafone Egypt tapped Ericsson as its Network Function Virtualization (NFV) partner and went live with the commercial virtual network function, LteWorld reported. NFV involves virtualizing network services that are currently being executed by hardware owned by a single company that does not share knowledge about its technology, i.e. “proprietary” hardware. “Since October 2016, Ericsson's virtual Serving GPRS Support Node - Mobility Management Entity (SGSN-MME) has been serving and managing commercial mobile broadband traffic on the Vodafone Egypt network,” according to LteWorld. Ericsson Egypt CEO Helene Henriksson tells Al Borsa that the company plans to work as a consultant to Egypt’s mobile network operators on preparations to offer 5G services, and is currently waiting for the operators to receive their 4G spectra to assist them in rolling out the new service.