“Call me whenever”, is that to be taken literally?

I have a mate who has a shit-tonne more friends than me, so he’s often with someone.

I’ve asked if he’s happy for me to call him whenever and he’s told me to just do it, multiple times, so I’m inclined to believe he doesn’t mind it, but I don’t want to phone him and disturb him…

I message him most days and he replies when he can (he’s also very busy lately). He’s used to people contacting him all the time because he was an actor and lived the high life for a while, so knows *lots and lots* of people.

So should I take him at his word and just phone?

I’m a bit wet behind the ears for my age socially, he helps me a lot, and he’s already told me repeatedly how he’ll always be my mate, etc.