Electrical transport studies inp‐type ZnTe have confirmed that in the temperature range of about 80° to 500°K the hole mobility is principally limited by LO phonon scattering. An effective mass ratio of 0.6 gives the best fit to the experimental data. The highest mobility, 6500 cm2/V·sec at 35°K, was observed in a crystal with an active defect center concentration of 2×1015cm−3. The ionization energy of the first charge state of a native acceptor, believed to be a Zn vacancy, was found to be ≥0.057±0.002 eV. Besides acting as shallow acceptor defects in ZnTe, the elements Li, Na, and P were found to promote the incorporation of substantial concentrations of native defects. High concentrations of Li, under excess Zn firing conditions, were observed to lead to highly compensated, low‐mobility material, suggestive of self‐compensation of the Li dopant.