diff --git a/openstack/common/jsonutils.py b/openstack/common/jsonutils.py
index 215355fe4..9214f359a 100644
--- a/openstack/common/jsonutils.py
+++ b/openstack/common/jsonutils.py
@@ -38,7 +38,18 @@ import datetime
 import functools
 import inspect
 import itertools
-import json
+import sys
+
+if sys.version_info < (2, 7):
+    # On Python <= 2.6, json module is not C boosted, so try to use
+    # simplejson module if available
+    try:
+        import simplejson as json
+    except ImportError:
+        import json
+else:
+    import json
+
 try:
     import xmlrpclib
 except ImportError: