Telecommunications companies are reporting sales of approximately 35,000 mobile phones every month, equivalent to 420,000 units each year, according to the director of the Dominican Telecommunications Institute (INDOTEL) Jose Rafael Vargas. Listin Diario reports that a survey conducted by Gallup and INDOTEL last month indicates that 63% of the population uses mobiles, making this the second largest communications method after television. In May 2004, INDOTEL reported 3,229,044 telephone lines out of which 2,321,477 were mobiles, representing 72% of the total. The boom in this market is attributed to the emergence of new telephone companies in the country and their aggressive publicity campaigns during the last few years, forcing down prices in this sector.