Dispersion equations for the ordinary and extraordinary cyclotron waves propagating perpendicular to the magnetic field in metals in the critical region where the wavelength is comparable to the electron Larmor radius are derived as an infinite but rapidly converging power series expansion in δ( = Ω/Ω-M). Numerical studies for the cyclotron wave propagation near the first seven resonances are carried out. The non-local behaviour of those waves in the critical region 01 ⩽ kR ⩽ 3-0 is studied. For the ordinary waves the first few resonances show significant dispersion than those near higher resonances which are dispersion-free. Only one extraordinary wave propagates near the fundamental cyclotron frequency. For the higher resonances, two modes propagate near each of the resonant frequencies, of which one mode remains constant for all values ofkR whereas the second mode shows significant dispersion. But beyond the fifth resonance both the modes are dispersion free.