The present application provides a
cell activation method and an apparatus. In the method, a first message received by a terminal device is used for activating a first
cell that is only used for
uplink transmission, and then the terminal device may send a second message used for indicating that the terminal device has completed the activation of the first
cell. Therefore, the terminal device can activate the first cell that is only used for
uplink transmission and can communicate with a network device by means of the first cell. In some implementations, the terminal device may determine time-frequency synchronization information of the first cell on the basis of a downlink
signal of a second cell, or the terminal device may determine the transmission power of an
uplink channel of the first cell on the basis of the downlink
signal of the second cell, or the terminal device may perform
radio resource management of the first cell on the basis of the downlink
signal of the second cell. Therefore, since the first cell is only used for
uplink transmission, the number of downlink carriers needing to be tested by the terminal device is reduced, thus reducing the complexity and
power consumption of the terminal device.