diff --git a/webservice/soap/locallib.php b/webservice/soap/locallib.php
index 3b10ee4a30f..37e4048fc09 100644
--- a/webservice/soap/locallib.php
+++ b/webservice/soap/locallib.php
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ class webservice_soap_server extends webservice_base_server {
         raise_memory_limit(MEMORY_EXTRA);
 
         // Set some longer timeout since operations may need longer time to finish.
-        external_api::set_timeout();
+        \core_external\external_api::set_timeout();
 
         // Set up exception handler.
         set_exception_handler(array($this, 'exception_handler'));