diff --git a/gnu/packages/telephony.scm b/gnu/packages/telephony.scm
index 95d3ab53ca..96909b00b6 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/telephony.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/telephony.scm
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ (define-public spandsp
     (outputs '("out" "doc" "static"))   ;doc contains HTML documentation
     (arguments
      `(#:configure-flags '("--enable-doc=yes" "--enable-tests=yes")
+       #:parallel-build? #f ;non-deterministic build failures may occur otherwise
        #:parallel-tests? #f ;fails removing the same the files twice otherwise
        #:phases (modify-phases %standard-phases
                   (add-after 'unpack 'patch-configure.ac