Provided is an apparatus and method for increasing the service coverage area of a broadcast channel in a wireless communication system by using a Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) scheme. The method receives a MAP message including information about the type of a Media Access Control (MAC) management message transmitted in the current frame and information about retransmission of the MAC management message. Upon receipt of the MAC management message, based on the received information, the method combines the received MAC management message with a MAC management message that is stored in a buffer, wherein the MAC management message that is stored in the buffer was stored due to a reception error.