The present invention discloses a terminal, a base station, a network controller, a system, and a transmission method. The terminal includes: a receiving module, configured to receive configuration information of at least one air interface-specific path sent by a base station, where the air interface-specific path is used to transmit application data corresponding to at least one application; and a sending module, configured to: if the to-be-sent application data is discontinuously transmitted and has a length less than a preset threshold, use the at least one air interface-specific path to send the application data to the base station. According to embodiments of the present invention, when a terminal transmits data or signaling that is discontinuous and has a relatively small length, consumption of network signaling resources is reduced, so that a normal network service properly runs.