diff --git a/panel/config.py b/panel/config.py
index 903e38c256..0fef4e6ebb 100644
--- a/panel/config.py
+++ b/panel/config.py
@@ -787,12 +787,9 @@ def _detect_comms(self, params):
             return
 
         # Try to detect environment so that we can enable comms
-        try:
-            import google.colab  # noqa
+        if "google.colab" in sys.modules:
             config.comms = "colab"
             return
-        except ImportError:
-            pass
 
         if "VSCODE_CWD" in os.environ or "VSCODE_PID" in os.environ:
             config.comms = "vscode"