Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU- message board) CEO Pat Russo lashed out at her company's main rivals today, saying that their undermining tactics have resulted in greater costs and an even harsher price environment in the first half year of AlcaLu's operations.

    Her comments came during today's earnings conference call as AlcaLu reported a second-quarter net loss of €586 million (US$803 million) and management provided little insight on when the company might return to profitability. (See Alcatel-Lucent Slumps on Q2 Loss .)

    That combination sent AlcaLu's share price dipping by nearly 10 percent on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) , where it fell by $1.29 to $11.97 by mid-morning. In Paris, the stock finished the day down 9.9 percent at €8.64.

    Russo, responding to a stream of analyst questions about her company's depressed gross margins (33.4 percent in the second quarter, compared with 38.1 percent a year earlier), stated that the vendor is experiencing a "difficult pricing environment. Competitors have been trying to unseat us during our integration period."

    Russo and CFO Jean-Pascal Beaufret both stated repeatedly that the quarter's gross margin number is "lower than we would like and not indicative of the business going forward," but that it isn't possible to provide any guidance yet.

    Russo added that the company, which began operations on December 1 last year, has been forced to invest in research and development to prepare for the future, and to help carriers during their transition phases as they migrate to new, IP-based networks. It has also been forced into some "product transition costs" and "strategic investments."

    These "strategic investments" appear to include the costs of hanging on to existing business. "In our early days we have had some attacks on our customer base with offers [to our customers] of swap-outs, and we decided to take action to retain our customers," and those actions have added to the vendor's short-term costs, she noted.