diff --git a/package/netcat/netcat.mk b/package/netcat/netcat.mk
index eb7ddcac27..6c7c4b8f29 100644
--- a/package/netcat/netcat.mk
+++ b/package/netcat/netcat.mk
@@ -9,4 +9,10 @@ NETCAT_SITE = http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/netcat/netcat/$(NETCAT_VE
 NETCAT_LICENSE = GPL-2.0+
 NETCAT_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING
 
+# Ensure Busybox gets built/installed before, so that this package overrides
+# Busybox nc.
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_BUSYBOX),y)
+NETCAT_DEPENDENCIES += busybox
+endif
+
 $(eval $(autotools-package))