Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method, an apparatus, and a system for controlling network access of a machine terminal. In the embodiments of the present invention, an authorized period and/or a forbidden period of a time-controlled subscription is generated according to information such as network service load historical data of a network and application information of the time-controlled subscription. Network access of the machine terminal is controlled according to the authorized period and/or the forbidden period. Because the network access time of the machine terminal can be controlled flexibly, the communication of the machine terminal can be controlled flexibly, and impacts of machine terminal communication on ordinary terminal communication can be reduced.