A resource configuration method, comprising: determining, by a base station, a physical multicast channel PMCH resource area and a non-PMCH resource area in a frequency domain resource of a data frame used for transmitting a multicast or broadcast signal, wherein the PMCH resource area is used to transmit a PMCH channel, and the non-PMCH resource area is used to transmit a physical downlink channel; and sending, by the base station, resource configuration information to a user equipment, wherein the resource configuration information comprises a resource identifier corresponding to at least one of the PMCH resource area and the non-PMCH resource area; wherein the resource identifier is used to indicate at least one of the following: the number of physical resource block PRB pairs that are comprised in the PMCH resource area and the number of PRB pairs that are comprised in the non-PMCH resource area; wherein the resource identifier comprises at least one of the following: a first PMCH identifier and a first non-PMCH identifier; the first PMCH identifier is used to indicate the number of PRB pairs that are comprised in the PMCH resource area in a direction from a lowest frequency to a highest frequency of system bandwidth and the number of PRB pairs that are comprised in the PMCH resource area in a direction from the highest frequency to the lowest frequency; and the first non-PMCH identifier is used to indicate the number of PRB pairs that are comprised in the PMCH resource area in the direction from the lowest frequency to the highest frequency of the system bandwidth and the number of PRB pairs that are comprised in the PMCH resource area in the direction from the highest frequency to the lowest frequency. determining, by a base station, a physical multicast channel PMCH resource area and a non-PMCH resource area in a frequency domain resource of a data frame used for transmitting a multicast or broadcast signal, wherein the PMCH resource area is used to transmit a PMCH channel, and the non-PMCH resource area is used to transmit a physical downlink channel; and sending, by the base station, resource configuration information to a user equipment, wherein the resource configuration information comprises a resource identifier corresponding to at least one of the PMCH resource area and the non-PMCH resource area; wherein the resource identifier is used to indicate at least one of the following: the number of physical resource block PRB pairs that are comprised in the PMCH resource area and the number of PRB pairs that are comprised in the non-PMCH resource area; wherein the resource identifier comprises at least one of the following: a first PMCH identifier and a first non-PMCH identifier; the first PMCH identifier is used to indicate the number of PRB pairs that are comprised in the PMCH resource area in a direction from a lowest frequency to a highest frequency of system bandwidth and the number of PRB pairs that are comprised in the PMCH resource area in a direction from the highest frequency to the lowest frequency; and the first non-PMCH identifier is used to indicate the number of PRB pairs that are comprised in the PMCH resource area in the direction from the lowest frequency to the highest frequency of the system bandwidth and the number of PRB pairs that are comprised in the PMCH resource area in the direction from the highest frequency to the lowest frequency.