They contract out the job of doing the buyback to someone else,...

They contract out the job of doing the buyback to someone else, so its at arms length.

I think investor confidence is suffering due to lack of profits from increased market share.

The falling SP isnt just about SLC, ABB is close to its initial price, there is also talk of Vocus retail being spun off.

It does seem to me that there will be industry consolidation, if not within the telco sector, then with the wider utility and financial sector. Origin was mentioned as looking for retail acquisition, it makes sense for electricity/gas retails to sell NBN, but surprisingly CBA was mentioned as looking at buying Vocus retail. There are synergies with customer service side of things.