diff --git a/openbsc/contrib/systemd/osmo-bsc-mgcp.service b/openbsc/contrib/systemd/osmo-bsc-mgcp.service
index b5e8ec3d0..4b3df2c06 100644
--- a/openbsc/contrib/systemd/osmo-bsc-mgcp.service
+++ b/openbsc/contrib/systemd/osmo-bsc-mgcp.service
@@ -4,6 +4,6 @@ Description=OpenBSC MGCP
 [Service]
 Type=simple
 Restart=always
-ExecStart=/usr/bin/osmo-bsc_mgcp -c /etc/osmocom/osmo-bsc-mgcp.cfg
+ExecStart=/usr/bin/osmo-bsc_mgcp -s -c /etc/osmocom/osmo-bsc-mgcp.cfg
 Restart=always
 RestartSec=2
diff --git a/openbsc/src/osmo-bsc_mgcp/mgcp_main.c b/openbsc/src/osmo-bsc_mgcp/mgcp_main.c
index 6f22f9060..540f7602b 100644
--- a/openbsc/src/osmo-bsc_mgcp/mgcp_main.c
+++ b/openbsc/src/osmo-bsc_mgcp/mgcp_main.c
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ static void print_help()
 	printf("Some useful help...\n");
 	printf(" -h --help is printing this text.\n");
 	printf(" -c --config-file filename The config file to use.\n");
+	printf(" -s --disable-color\n");
 	printf(" -D --daemonize Fork the process into a background daemon\n");
 	printf(" -V --version Print the version number\n");
 }
@@ -93,6 +94,7 @@ static void handle_options(int argc, char **argv)
 			{"config-file", 1, 0, 'c'},
 			{"daemonize", 0, 0, 'D'},
 			{"version", 0, 0, 'V'},
+			{"disable-color", 0, 0, 's'},
 			{0, 0, 0, 0},
 		};
 
@@ -109,6 +111,9 @@ static void handle_options(int argc, char **argv)
 		case 'c':
 			config_file = talloc_strdup(tall_bsc_ctx, optarg);
 			break;
+		case 's':
+			log_set_use_color(osmo_stderr_target, 0);
+			break;
 		case 'V':
 			print_version(1);
 			exit(0);