Uninor shuts shop in Mumbai on Saturday. The shutdown follows a Supreme Court order on Friday that all operators who did not win spectrum in the previous auctions close down services immediately.

Uninor has more than 18 lakh cell phone consumers in the Mumbai region.

"Today a large number of people lined up for new connections. Demand may shoot up over the next four-five days. Our outlets and relationship centres have already geared up for it. We know that initially it will be a stress on our call centres, but since we are well-equipped we will manage to meet the sudden rise in demand. We welcome new consumers," said a source in one of these companies.

Uninor said in a statement that there was no impact on its operations in six circles, including Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat, since the Telenor group had already secured fresh spectrum for 20 years and the services will continue.

The company said it will sign roaming agreements with other operators to ensure that all Uninor customers get seamless connectivity when travelling to Mumbai.