A signal forwarding apparatus, applicable to a repeater, includes: a mobile termination (MT) configured to receive a timing advance command, the timing advance command indicating an index value TA for controlling a first timing; and forwarding entity configured to transmit a signal on a backhaul link by using the first timing, wherein the repeater is an RF repeater, the mobile termination is used to communicate with a network device via a control link, and the forwarding entity is used to forward an RF signal between a network device and a user equipment via the backhaul link and an access link.