A final decision on whether the world’s most powerful radio telescope is to be hosted in South Africa or Australia - or even shared by both countries - is expected to be made today.

The $2 billion 'Square Kilometre Array' (SKA), when completed in 2024, is to be made up of 3000 dishes, each 15 metres wide. The project is to also stretch over an area 3000 km.

The telescope is planned to be capable of scanning the skies 10000 times faster and with 50 times the sensitivity of any other telescope.

Scientists say it will be used to study the origins of the universe and will be able to detect weak signals that could indicate the presence of extraterrestrial life.

A joint bid between Australia and New Zealand to host the telescope has been up against competition from South Africa.

South Africa has been competing for almost a decade to host the SKA telescope in the Northern Cape province.

And the SKA organisation is planning to have a meeting Friday in the Netherlands, after which an announcement is expected.

Dobek Pater, a telecoms analyst with Africa Analysis, told ITWeb Africa earlier this year that the practical benefits of the project for South Africa could be manifold.

“It would attract numerous scientists to the country who, when not holed up at the SKA sites, would be able to impart some of their knowledge and experience to local scientists, students and learners.”

Pater also said that with educational institutions able to extend their various astronomy, quantum physics and space science programmes in order to undertake more analysis of the data from the SKA project, there could be the knock-on effect of attracting greater numbers of students into the related fields of math and physics.