Tech

Arqami in the Sahel App: How Many Phone Lines Are Registered to You

A service CITRA launched on 16 August shows every telecoms subscription held under one civil ID across all operators. Why the count matters, and what to do about a number nobody claims.

Screens from the Sahel government services app in Kuwait

On 16 August 2026 the Communication and Information Technology Regulatory Authority added a new service to the Sahel app called Arqami. It answers a single question: how many lines are registered to you, and with which company.

The answer arrives on one screen, and covers the lines and telecoms services registered in your name with every provider in Kuwait, not just one.

Why the question matters

Because the number of lines a person thinks are in their name, and the number actually registered to them, are not always the same figure.

An old line with a company you left and never cancelled. A line you bought for a relative or a worker, whose connection to you ended while the name stayed yours. A line registered to you in a transaction done in a hurry that you have since forgotten. Every one of those stays attached to you: to your identity, and to whatever happens on it.

Which is why the authority describes the service as serving four aims: raising digital awareness, making it easier to verify personal data, strengthening transparency standards, and protecting digital privacy. That last one is the heart of it. You cannot protect what you do not know exists.

Where to find it

The service runs inside the Sahel app rather than in a separate one. Sahel is Kuwait’s official e-government app, overseen by the Public Authority for Civil Information, with over a million downloads and a 4.5 out of five rating on Google Play.

You sign in with your civil ID number, after which the interface splits into five tabs: data, services, notifications, appointments, announcements. The services tab carries the list of authorities, and CITRA’s services are reached through it.

To show how much now sits in the app, these are some of the bodies on that same list: the General Administration of Customs, the Public Institution for Social Security, the Public Authority for Housing Welfare, the Public Authority for Minors’ Affairs, the Public Authority for Disability Affairs, the Public Authority for Civil Information, the Public Authority for Manpower, Kuwait Municipality, Kuwait Credit Bank, the Civil Service Commission, and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

What to do if a number you do not recognise appears

This is the practical part, and the reason the service exists at all.

If a line appears that you do not recognise, or one you do recognise but no longer use, the stated recommendation is to take the necessary action on it: go to the operator running that line to cancel it, transfer ownership, or ask where the registration came from. The service displays and reveals; the cancelling happens at the provider.

Zain announced its support for the launch in cooperation with the authority, which means the operators are part of the system rather than outside it.

A small step in a larger file

Arqami on its own is two minutes of your time. But it belongs to a wider direction: moving enquiries that used to need a branch visit or a phone call onto a single screen the user opens themselves, whenever they like, with no intermediary.

And the difference between a digital service that works and one nobody notices is usually this: whether it answers a question people were actually asking. “How many lines are registered to me” is a question a lot of people ask, and it had no easy answer before this month.

Photo: screens from the Sahel app, via the app’s official Google Play page

Further reading: the Communication and Information Technology Regulatory Authority · Kuwait’s official e-government portal, Sahel app page

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