By Foo Yun Chee

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – Alphabet (NASDAQ:) unit Google on Tuesday said deals with Android phone makers that landed it a record 4.3-billion-euro ($5 billion) antitrust fine boosted competition and rejected EU charges they were a carrot-and-stick tactic that stifled rivals.

Google addressed the second day in a seven-day-long hearing. It was trying to convince Europe’s second highest court to cancel the fine, and to have the European Commission issue an order to allow it to loosen its control over Android search engines.

The dispute arose over Google’s Mobile Application Distribution Agreements. These agreements require that phone manufacturers (OEMs), in exchange for Google Play being licensed for free, must be pre-installed by Google Search and Chrome.

Alfonso Lamadrid, a lawyer for Google, stated that this licensing arrangement is what attracted OEMs onto the Android platform and allowed them to offer consistent and high quality user experiences at the lowest price.

He said that Google is used by people because they want to and not because they are forced to.

Carlos Urraca Caviedes, a lawyer for the Commission, rejected this argument and called the agreements and other restrictions Google’s carrot-and stick policy toward phone manufacturers.

According to him, “These allowed Google to ensure its dominant position was maintained”

These deals are unnecessary given the enormous market power and large number of Google users, which is the most used internet search engine in the world.

Urraca Caviedes stated that Google’s actions “go beyond the necessary development and maintenance of Android platforms”.

Next year, a verdict could be reached. T-604/18 Google vs European Commission.

($1 = 0.8537 euros)