A positioning method, comprising: sending, by a terminal to be positioned, a positioning service request to an MME, and a positioning reference signal to N positioning base stations, wherein the positioning service request is used to position the terminal to be positioned, and N is greater than or equal to 3; sending, by a reference terminal at a fixed location, a positioning reference signal to the N positioning base stations; receiving, by the MME, the positioning service request sent by the terminal to be positioned, determining, by the MME, the positioning service request, and sending, by the MME, the positioning service request to a positioning server; separately receiving, by the positioning server, information comprising r 1 and R 1, r 2 and R 2,..., r N and R N sent by the N positioning base stations, where r 1, r 2... r N denote time instants when positioning reference signals sent by the terminal to be positioned arrive at the N positioning base stations, R 1, R 2... R N denote time instants when positioning reference signals sent by the reference terminal at the fixed location arrive at the N positioning base stations; calculating, by the positioning server, coordinates of the terminal to be positioned according to r 1, r 2... r N and R 1, R 2... R N, wherein before separately receiving, by the positioning server, information comprising r 1 and R 1, r 2 and R 2,..., r N and R N sent by the N positioning base stations, the method further comprises: sending, by the positioning server, first authorization information and first auxiliary information to the N positioning base stations, wherein the first authorization information is used to notify the N positioning base stations to start positioning and the first auxiliary information is used to identify the terminal to be positioned and the reference terminal at a fixed location; receiving, by the MME, the coordinates of the terminal to be positioned sent by the positioning server; sending, by the MME, the coordinates of the terminal to be positioned to the terminal to be positioned requesting the positioning service, where the positioning service is used to position the terminal to be positioned. sending, by a terminal to be positioned, a positioning service request to an MME, and a positioning reference signal to N positioning base stations, wherein the positioning service request is used to position the terminal to be positioned, and N is greater than or equal to 3; sending, by a reference terminal at a fixed location, a positioning reference signal to the N positioning base stations; receiving, by the MME, the positioning service request sent by the terminal to be positioned, determining, by the MME, the positioning service request, and sending, by the MME, the positioning service request to a positioning server; separately receiving, by the positioning server, information comprising r 1 and R 1, r 2 and R 2,..., r N and R N sent by the N positioning base stations, where r 1, r 2... r N denote time instants when positioning reference signals sent by the terminal to be positioned arrive at the N positioning base stations, R 1, R 2... R N denote time instants when positioning reference signals sent by the reference terminal at the fixed location arrive at the N positioning base stations; calculating, by the positioning server, coordinates of the terminal to be positioned according to r 1, r 2... r N and R 1, R 2... R N, wherein before separately receiving, by the positioning server, information comprising r 1 and R 1, r 2 and R 2,..., r N and R N sent by the N positioning base stations, the method further comprises: sending, by the positioning server, first authorization information and first auxiliary information to the N positioning base stations, wherein the first authorization information is used to notify the N positioning base stations to start positioning and the first auxiliary information is used to identify the terminal to be positioned and the reference terminal at a fixed location; receiving, by the MME, the coordinates of the terminal to be positioned sent by the positioning server; sending, by the MME, the coordinates of the terminal to be positioned to the terminal to be positioned requesting the positioning service, where the positioning service is used to position the terminal to be positioned.