A bandwidth indication method, comprising: determining, by a base station (101, 600, 800), a virtual bandwidth allocated to a terminal (102, 700, 900), wherein the virtual bandwidth is a part of a carrier bandwidth, and a bandwidth allocated to the terminal (102, 700, 900) falls within the virtual bandwidth; and sending, by the base station (101, 600, 800), position information of the virtual bandwidth to the terminal (102, 700, 900), wherein the position information is used to indicate a position of the virtual bandwidth, characterized by the position information comprising a relative position of the virtual bandwidth relative to a reference frequency domain position, the relative position comprising: a first offset value between the reference frequency domain position and a lowest frequency domain position of the virtual bandwidth; or a second offset value between the reference frequency domain position and a highest frequency domain position of the virtual bandwidth; or a third offset value between the reference frequency domain position and a specified frequency domain position of the virtual bandwidth, wherein the method further comprises: sending, by the base station (101, 600, 800), resource indication information, wherein the resource indication information is used to indicate a frequency domain position of a sub-bandwidth occupied by the terminal (102, 700, 900) in the virtual bandwidth; or the resource indication information is used to indicate a frequency domain position of a sub-bandwidth group occupied by the terminal (102, 700, 900) in the virtual bandwidth, the sub-bandwidth group comprises n sub-bandwidths, n≥2, and n is a positive integer, and wherein the base station (101, 600, 800) indicates size information of a frequency domain bandwidth included in a sub-bandwidth at a boundary position of the virtual bandwidth. determining, by a base station (101, 600, 800), a virtual bandwidth allocated to a terminal (102, 700, 900), wherein the virtual bandwidth is a part of a carrier bandwidth, and a bandwidth allocated to the terminal (102, 700, 900) falls within the virtual bandwidth; and sending, by the base station (101, 600, 800), position information of the virtual bandwidth to the terminal (102, 700, 900), wherein the position information is used to indicate a position of the virtual bandwidth, characterized by the position information comprising a relative position of the virtual bandwidth relative to a reference frequency domain position, the relative position comprising: a first offset value between the reference frequency domain position and a lowest frequency domain position of the virtual bandwidth; or a second offset value between the reference frequency domain position and a highest frequency domain position of the virtual bandwidth; or a third offset value between the reference frequency domain position and a specified frequency domain position of the virtual bandwidth, wherein the method further comprises: sending, by the base station (101, 600, 800), resource indication information, wherein the resource indication information is used to indicate a frequency domain position of a sub-bandwidth occupied by the terminal (102, 700, 900) in the virtual bandwidth; or the resource indication information is used to indicate a frequency domain position of a sub-bandwidth group occupied by the terminal (102, 700, 900) in the virtual bandwidth, the sub-bandwidth group comprises n sub-bandwidths, n≥2, and n is a positive integer, and wherein the base station (101, 600, 800) indicates size information of a frequency domain bandwidth included in a sub-bandwidth at a boundary position of the virtual bandwidth. sending, by the base station (101, 600, 800), resource indication information, wherein the resource indication information is used to indicate a frequency domain position of a sub-bandwidth occupied by the terminal (102, 700, 900) in the virtual bandwidth; or the resource indication information is used to indicate a frequency domain position of a sub-bandwidth group occupied by the terminal (102, 700, 900) in the virtual bandwidth, the sub-bandwidth group comprises n sub-bandwidths, n≥2, and n is a positive integer, and wherein the base station (101, 600, 800) indicates size information of a frequency domain bandwidth included in a sub-bandwidth at a boundary position of the virtual bandwidth.