diff --git a/include/net/net_if.h b/include/net/net_if.h
index b9a98507009..c4b90d1b8da 100644
--- a/include/net/net_if.h
+++ b/include/net/net_if.h
@@ -469,6 +469,14 @@ struct net_if {
 
 	/** Network interface instance configuration */
 	struct net_if_config config;
+
+#if defined(CONFIG_NET_POWER_MANAGEMENT)
+	/** Keep track of packets pending in traffic queues. This is
+	 * needed to avoid putting network device driver to sleep if
+	 * there are packets waiting to be sent.
+	 */
+	int tx_pending;
+#endif
 } __net_if_align;
 
 /**
@@ -2101,6 +2109,26 @@ void net_if_unset_promisc(struct net_if *iface);
  */
 bool net_if_is_promisc(struct net_if *iface);
 
+/**
+ * @brief Check if there are any pending TX network data for a given network
+ *        interface.
+ *
+ * @param iface Pointer to network interface
+ *
+ * @return True if there are pending TX network packets for this network
+ *         interface, False otherwise.
+ */
+static inline bool net_if_are_pending_tx_packets(struct net_if *iface)
+{
+#if defined(CONFIG_NET_POWER_MANAGEMENT)
+	return !!iface->tx_pending;
+#else
+	ARG_UNUSED(iface);
+
+	return false;
+#endif
+}
+
 /** @cond INTERNAL_HIDDEN */
 struct net_if_api {
 	void (*init)(struct net_if *iface);
diff --git a/subsys/net/ip/net_if.c b/subsys/net/ip/net_if.c
index 4f67ea4bdbf..d54c7aac78f 100644
--- a/subsys/net/ip/net_if.c
+++ b/subsys/net/ip/net_if.c
@@ -260,11 +260,18 @@ static bool net_if_tx(struct net_if *iface, struct net_pkt *pkt)
 
 static void process_tx_packet(struct k_work *work)
 {
+	struct net_if *iface;
 	struct net_pkt *pkt;
 
 	pkt = CONTAINER_OF(work, struct net_pkt, work);
 
-	net_if_tx(net_pkt_iface(pkt), pkt);
+	iface = net_pkt_iface(pkt);
+
+	net_if_tx(iface, pkt);
+
+#if defined(CONFIG_NET_POWER_MANAGEMENT)
+	iface->tx_pending--;
+#endif
 }
 
 void net_if_queue_tx(struct net_if *iface, struct net_pkt *pkt)
@@ -282,7 +289,16 @@ void net_if_queue_tx(struct net_if *iface, struct net_pkt *pkt)
 	NET_DBG("TC %d with prio %d pkt %p", tc, prio, pkt);
 #endif
 
-	net_tc_submit_to_tx_queue(tc, pkt);
+#if defined(CONFIG_NET_POWER_MANAGEMENT)
+	iface->tx_pending++;
+#endif
+
+	if (!net_tc_submit_to_tx_queue(tc, pkt)) {
+#if defined(CONFIG_NET_POWER_MANAGEMENT)
+		iface->tx_pending--
+#endif
+			;
+	}
 }
 
 void net_if_stats_reset(struct net_if *iface)