The optically modulated absorption (OMA) effect has been examined inp‐type (NA−ND≊2×1015cm−3) Hg0.785Cd0.215Te. The effect has been used to measure the excess hole lifetime for temperatures between 85 and 250 K. The measured lifetimes agree with the results of photoconductivity (PC) decay measurements performed on the same samples. The measured lifetimes also indicate that an Auger process is the dominant recombination mechanism at temperatures above about 150 K, while a Shockley–Read–Hall process controls the lifetime below this temperature. In addition, it was found that the OMA signal exhibits extremely large phase‐interference effects when coherent radiation is used for the probe beam. These effects have been both experimentally and theoretically investigated.