Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, a base station, and a user equipment for activating or deactivating a carrier. The method includes the following: A base station determines to activate or deactivate at least one secondary carrier used to communication with a user equipment and transmits a High Speed Shared Control Channel HS-SCCH order to the user equipment, where the HS-SCCH order carries indication information used to indicate activation or deactivation of the at least one secondary carrier. In the embodiments of the present invention, a user equipment is capable of correctly activating or deactivating a carrier.