Samsung and Russian operator group MTS have decided to take their friendship to the next level via the time-honoured route of signing an R&D collaboration MoU.

While not as romantic as a candle-lit dinner or a naughty weekend, the Memorandum of Understanding is an established corporate courtship tradition that can often be the precursor to more formal commitments such as the joint venture, strategic partnership or outright marriage.

In the build up to the next major wireless standard the levels of flirtation between various telecoms stakeholders have already reached promiscuous proportions. While Samsung and MTS have only announced a relatively preliminary level of engagement, the MoU does encompass 5G, IoT and everything in between.

“Samsung is pleased to sign this MoU with MTS as it proves our successful partnership around LTE,” said Dong Soo Park, EVP of the Networks business at Samsung Electronics. “We are confident that this collaboration will play a key role in leveraging advanced technologies to bring everyday benefit to the lives of Russians. Based on Samsung’s strengths in 5G and IoT, we look forward to supporting MTS in solidifying their position as an innovative telecommunications leader by discovering new opportunities for the commercialization of 5G.”

“MTS is consecutively working on preparation of its network in Russian regions for 5G technology deployment, and signing memorandum with Samsung is another important step on that way,” said MTS VP of Technology Andrei Ushatskiy. “Paying close attention already now to innovative research and development, when new standard requirements are still under formation, we build a basis for quick 5G implementation in future, considering growing subscriber needs and changing environment on country’s telecom market.”

As the quotes show the two companies have been close for quite a while. Apparently one thing led to another and now they’re friends with benefits. With so much 5G high-fiving coming from the US, Europe and East Asia it’s good to see Russia stake a claim, even if it’s just a solitary MoU for now.