A common information transmission method, comprising: obtaining, by user equipment, UE, frequency domain location information of a first transmission bandwidth formed by M consecutive physical resource blocks, PRBs; determining, by the UE, a size and a location of the first transmission bandwidth in a bandwidth of the UE according to the frequency domain location information; and receiving, by the UE over the first transmission bandwidth, common information sent by a base station; wherein the size of the first transmission bandwidth is less than a size of the bandwidth of the UE; wherein the receiving, over the first transmission bandwidth, common information sent by a base station comprises: determining, by the UE, a first offset of the first transmission bandwidth according to the location of the first transmission bandwidth and a size of the bandwidth of the UE or receiving, by the UE, a first offset of the first transmission bandwidth from the base station; receiving, by the UE, first location information that is of a second common information and that is sent by the base station, wherein the first location information is used to determine a receiving location of the second common information in the bandwidth of the UE; determining, by the UE, a first location of the second common information according to the first location information and the first offset; and receiving, by the UE at the first location, the second common information sent by the base station, wherein the second common information comprises at least one of a system information block, SIB, a random access response, RAR, or paging information. obtaining, by user equipment, UE, frequency domain location information of a first transmission bandwidth formed by M consecutive physical resource blocks, PRBs; determining, by the UE, a size and a location of the first transmission bandwidth in a bandwidth of the UE according to the frequency domain location information; and receiving, by the UE over the first transmission bandwidth, common information sent by a base station; wherein the size of the first transmission bandwidth is less than a size of the bandwidth of the UE; wherein the receiving, over the first transmission bandwidth, common information sent by a base station comprises: determining, by the UE, a first offset of the first transmission bandwidth according to the location of the first transmission bandwidth and a size of the bandwidth of the UE or receiving, by the UE, a first offset of the first transmission bandwidth from the base station; receiving, by the UE, first location information that is of a second common information and that is sent by the base station, wherein the first location information is used to determine a receiving location of the second common information in the bandwidth of the UE; determining, by the UE, a first location of the second common information according to the first location information and the first offset; and receiving, by the UE at the first location, the second common information sent by the base station, wherein the second common information comprises at least one of a system information block, SIB, a random access response, RAR, or paging information. determining, by the UE, a first offset of the first transmission bandwidth according to the location of the first transmission bandwidth and a size of the bandwidth of the UE or receiving, by the UE, a first offset of the first transmission bandwidth from the base station; receiving, by the UE, first location information that is of a second common information and that is sent by the base station, wherein the first location information is used to determine a receiving location of the second common information in the bandwidth of the UE; determining, by the UE, a first location of the second common information according to the first location information and the first offset; and receiving, by the UE at the first location, the second common information sent by the base station, wherein the second common information comprises at least one of a system information block, SIB, a random access response, RAR, or paging information.