Embodiments of this application provide a channel configuration method. The method includes: determining, by a base station, a quantity of system flows based on a random access channel detection result; configuring, by the base station, an uplink channel and a downlink channel based on the quantity of system flows, where the uplink channel is a radio frequency channel used for uplink transmission, and the downlink channel is a radio frequency channel used for downlink transmission; and transmitting, by the base station, data based on the configured uplink channel and the configured downlink channel. Therefore, while system transmission performance is ensured, a communication requirement can be flexibly met, and system processing resources and transmission resources can be saved.