New player asking : What are the Telephone Duels all about?

Hey so I'm pretty new to the game and absolutely loving , couldn't get into Warzone, PUBG and any of the other games in that category... But Vigor is different , I think it might be the first free game I buy microtransactions in (I'm old skool, paying for DLC in World at War still feels weird to me after all these years)

Anyways! What the purpose to the telephone duels?

Like either I'll answer a ringing phone and a symbol will appear on the compass or I'll dial a quiet phone, but I can't seem to understand to what end is this so called duel of telephones aiming for...

Is it just a silly distraction or does it actually effect anything?

Thanks in advance, peas and glove