In testing I did, it is possible to run WhatsApp on Android without access to "Contacts"

For example,

1. Export contacts from the Contact app to a file if it is not a new phone

2. Disable Contacts app

3. Install a different contact database such as OpenContacts from F-Droid or Github

4. Import contacts from the file into OpenContacts

WhatsApp will not import the contacts in the OpenContacts database

Further, no other app will import these contacts either

This solves the "access to contacts" issue

Never had these software developer created issues with landlines.

the issue is that it shouldn't NEED to be solved by user in the first place