The importance of the effect of the magnetic shear and the finite size of the current channel on the electrostatic ion-cyclotron instability for the space plasmas is illustrated. A nonlocal treatment is used. When the channel width Lc is larger than the shear length Ls, there is a large reduction in the growth rate along with a noteworthy reduction of the band of the unstable perpendicular wavelengths. For Lc≲Ls/10 the growth rate is not much altered from its local value; however, for Lc/&rgr;i≲102 the growth rate starts falling below the local value and vanishes for Lc~&rgr;l. The nonlocal effects lead to enhanced coherence in the ion cyclotron waves.