Example data transmission methods and apparatuses are provided to reduce an uplink transmission latency of a user terminal and improve system resource utilization. One example method includes notifying, by a base station, a user terminal of a semi-persistent SPS period, where the SPS period is a short period. A first SPS resource is allocated, by the base station, to the user terminal. Data that is periodically sent by the user terminal based on the SPS period is received by using the first SPS resource.