Stop me if you've heard this one before: "The competition's killin' us!"

    That was the message coming out of Paris earlier this week when Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU - message board) reported its second-quarter earnings -- and the same complaint was heard in Helsinki this morning as, for the first time, Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK - message board) reported a quarter's business for its new network infrastructure joint venture Nokia Siemens Networks .

    The news wasn't good, with harsh market conditions to blame, according to Nokia's senior management. So more costs need to be cut and market stategies revisited. (See Nokia Siemens Suffers Merger Blues.)

    "It is an extremely competitive market, especially in wireless infrastructure," said Nokia CFO Rick Simonson during today's earnings conference call. "We have seen very aggressive and unsustainable pricing, and we haven't participated in some of the deals due to the financials," he added, before rounding on Nokia Siemens Networks' rivals. "Competitors have targeted our business during our integration period."

    It's like he took the words right out of Pat Russo's mouth! (See AlcaLu's Russo: We're Under Attack!)

    But it wasn't just tough competition that resulted in what Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo described as "a disappointing first quarter that fell short [in terms of] margins and revenues" for Nokia Siemens. There was also the "inevitable internal disruption" of bringing two cultures together, and slow orders from customers that have been waiting for the dust to settle, though that situation is already getting better, according to Kallasvuo, who is also the chairman of Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN).

    The gross margins were certainly disappointing, hitting just 23.6 percent in a market where other major vendors are achieving or edging towards the 40 percent mark.