After creating a group on {table.phoneno}, you can go to report->edit selection formula->group and enter:
{table.number} = maximum({table.number}, {table.phoneno})
Only one record will be displayed per phone number, but for summaries, you will need to use running totals, since the non-group selected records would still contribute to the more usual summaries.
I don't think you can group on status as a higher order group, since it would force the return of multiple records per phone number, despite the group select. However, you could achieve a display by status using running totals in the report footer. Using the running total editor, you would select distinctcount of {table.phoneno}, evaluate based on a formula: {table.status} = "Status A"
Reset never. Do this for each status, and place in the report footer next to an identifying text field:
Status A: 145
Status B: 263
Status C: 100
Total: 508
-LB