diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 07b8ee02..f28b870e 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -610,7 +610,9 @@ if MBIMMODEM
 mbim_sources =	drivers/mbimmodem/mbim.h \
 		drivers/mbimmodem/mbim.c \
 		drivers/mbimmodem/mbim-desc.h \
-		drivers/mbimmodem/mbim-desc.c
+		drivers/mbimmodem/mbim-desc.c \
+		drivers/mbimmodem/mbim-message.h \
+		drivers/mbimmodem/mbim-message.c
 
 builtin_modules += mbimmodem
 builtin_sources += $(mbim_sources) \
diff --git a/drivers/mbimmodem/mbim-message.c b/drivers/mbimmodem/mbim-message.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..85993fdc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/drivers/mbimmodem/mbim-message.c
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+/*
+ *
+ *  oFono - Open Source Telephony
+ *
+ *  Copyright (C) 2017  Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.
+ *
+ *  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ *  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as
+ *  published by the Free Software Foundation.
+ *
+ *  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ *  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ *  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ *  GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ *  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ *  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+ *  Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA
+ *
+ */
+
+#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
+#include <config.h>
+#endif
+
+#include <ell/ell.h>
+
+#include "mbim-message.h"
+
+struct mbim_message {
+	int ref_count;
+};
+
+struct mbim_message *mbim_message_new(const uint8_t *uuid, uint32_t cid)
+{
+	struct mbim_message *msg;
+
+	msg = l_new(struct mbim_message, 1);
+
+	return mbim_message_ref(msg);
+}
+
+struct mbim_message *mbim_message_ref(struct mbim_message *msg)
+{
+	if (unlikely(!msg))
+		return NULL;
+
+	__sync_fetch_and_add(&msg->ref_count, 1);
+
+	return msg;
+}
+
+void mbim_message_unref(struct mbim_message *msg)
+{
+	if (unlikely(!msg))
+		return;
+
+	if (__sync_sub_and_fetch(&msg->ref_count, 1))
+		return;
+
+	l_free(msg);
+}
diff --git a/drivers/mbimmodem/mbim-message.h b/drivers/mbimmodem/mbim-message.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..595b4caa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/drivers/mbimmodem/mbim-message.h
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+/*
+ *
+ *  oFono - Open Source Telephony
+ *
+ *  Copyright (C) 2017  Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.
+ *
+ *  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ *  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as
+ *  published by the Free Software Foundation.
+ *
+ *  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ *  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ *  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ *  GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ *  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ *  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+ *  Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA
+ *
+ */
+
+#include <stdint.h>
+
+struct mbim_message;
+
+struct mbim_message *mbim_message_new(const uint8_t *uuid, uint32_t cid);
+struct mbim_message *mbim_message_ref(struct mbim_message *msg);
+void mbim_message_unref(struct mbim_message *msg);