Pay TV operator Foxtel said on Thursday that its operations' saw a double-digit jump in 2009/10 amidst slow downs in attracting new subscribers for Australia's biggest cable network.

The company said that that its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the last 12 months leading to June 30 went up by 17.5 percent as compared to the figures recorded in the previous corresponding period, with overall revenues picking up by 10 percent to an estimated $2 billion.

Foxtel added that the company's average revenue per subscriber (ARPU) increased by 50 percent as it noted that the relatively good result "was supported by continued strong uptake of the FOXTEL iQ and FOXTEL high definition services."

Company chief executive Kim Williams characterised the growth as solid enough as he stressed that "despite challenging economic, general consumer sentiment and competitive settings we continued to grow our direct customer base, albeit at a subdued rate."

As its records showed, Foxtel revealed that a total of 1.54 million households are currently direct subscribers of the company, which is an improvement of three percent from the same period of last year and 1.6 percent better from the list of clients getting subscriptions as of the end of 2009.

Foxtel said that 60 percent of its subscribers were now availing of its iQ and iQ2 services while some 250,000 clients opted to access the company's high definition package offerings, with about 35 percent subscribers maintaining two or more set-top boxes.

Its latest report revealed that some 1.63 million households subscribe to services offered by Foxtel, which is currently 50 percent-owned by Telstra Corp Ltd with News Corp and Consolidated Media Holdings Ltd each maintaining 25 percent interests in the company.

Foxtel said that it remitted a total of $100 million to Telstra as dividend for 2008/09 while the 2009/10 dividend payment amounted to $60 million.