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There are several steps between using AWS and building a datacentre.

- Using similar services from cheaper cloud providers

- Renting VMs

- Renting whole servers

- Renting rack space + power

- Renting larger spaces (many racks, or part or all of a whole floor)

The small ISP/phone/cable company I worked for in high school had a data center. Maybe 20 racks. It was pretty damn reliable (old-school phone infra techs knew how to make shit stay “online”). I guarantee it wasn’t above the single-digit millions to build, inflation adjusted.

That example of your small telecom company isn't really relevant here, is it? Signal needs to work well for people around the world.

You can serve tens to hundreds of millions of messaging clients with data centers (plural) that don’t cost billions, even collectively, to build.

You don't have to buy a data centre... You can lease space in an existing facility for almost nothing.