A communication method to determine, based on information sent by a distributed unit (DU) connected to a mobile integrated access and backhaul (mIAB) node, an identifier of a first central unit (CU) connected to a mobile terminal (MT) in the mIAB node, and implement data transmission of the mIAB node in a topology of the first CU based on the identifier of the first CU. In the method, the DU determines first information, where the first information is used to determine the identifier of the first CU, the DU connected to the first CU includes a first cell, the first cell is a cell supporting mIAB node access, and the identifier of the first CU is used to set up data transmission in the topology of the first CU for an mIAB node accessing the first cell; and the DU sends the first information.