Embodiments of the present invention provide a service processing method for a new carrier type cell, an apparatus, and a communications system. The method includes: receiving, by user equipment UE, a system message sent by a base station corresponding to a legacy carrier type LCT cell, where the system message includes multimedia broadcast multicast service MBMS configuration information of a new carrier type NCT cell; and performing, by the UE, service configuration processing on an MBMS of the NCT cell according to the MBMS configuration information of the NCT cell.