The BGS is a "dumb" relay and mirror of the network, so it generally shouldn't matter which one your client app is ultimately sourcing data from. But yes, anyo

The BGS is a "dumb" relay and mirror of the network, so it generally shouldn't matter which one your client app is ultimately sourcing data from. But yes, anyone is free to operate a BGS. It does necessarily require a non-trivial amount of storage, compute, and bandwidth. A funded startup, well-funded non-profit, or any just about any cloud provider could likely afford to run one. It's also entirely possible to operate a BGS that only mirrors a slice of the network (for instance, only users in one country) if desired, which could in some cases make it affordable for a single user or small coop to operate.