The first cellular phone Steve Largent carried was larger than a football and could only make and receive phone calls - if he was lucky.

That was in the 1980s when Largent, a former Seattle Seahawks wide receiver, was one of the 2.7 million people to own a cell phone.

Phones are now becoming so advanced that the term "cellular phone"might become extinct, Largent told hundreds of people at the North Dakota Statewide Conference on Wireless Telecommunications on Tuesday.

"The future is clearly about allowing people to communicate and connect how they want, anytime they want and anywhere they want,"Largent said.

Largent was the keynote speaker at the conference not because he is a NFLHall of Fame wide receiver or a former congressman from Oklahoma, but because he is the president and CEO of CTIA-The Wireless Association.

The wireless craze has spread across the world, with cell phones able to take pictures, download full-length movies and surf the Internet. Largent said some developing countries are erecting wireless communications towers rather than telephone poles because it is more efficient.

According to CTIA-The Wireless Association, there are more than 194 million wireless subscribers in the United States and close to 2 billion worldwide.

Largent envisions a day when people wirelessly log on to the Internet practically anywhere.

"Ithink we'll see that sooner rather than later,"Largent said.

But in order for the wireless industry to grow, Largent said the government needs to ease up on regulations.

"Even though we continue to offer more service, more minutes, more rate plans at lower prices, some policy makers insist on treating us no differently than the traditional telecommunications utility monopoly and we are far from that,"Largent said.

Largent said in 2004 alone there were 1,541 pieces of legislation to regulate the industry in state governments. He also said taxes represent more than 17 percent of a cellular phone bill in most states.

The wireless conference, put on by the Public Service Commission and Bismarck-Mandan Chamber of Commerce, included industry leaders and government officials from several states.

(Reach reporter Tom Rafferty at 223-8482 or tom.rafferty@;bismarcktribune.com.)